Fremont, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
The conditions favor avocado, meyer lemon, tomato, and artichoke, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Fremont, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Fremont lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Fremont — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Fremont — the short answer
Fremont, California: USDA zone 10a, about 334 days between hard freezes, across 50K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 12
- Alameda County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 12
- Alameda County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~334
- Alameda County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 50K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Alameda County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is Fremont's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fremont's 334-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fremont
Each reading below is measured for Fremont itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsFremont runs about 334 days between hard freezes (read from Alameda County, the closest normal to Fremont) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredFremont sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Fremont is in
Fremont sits in the Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Fremont's own centroid rather than borrowed from Alameda County.
What Grows in Fremont
Plants matched to Fremont's USDA zones 10a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Fremont?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
Documented around Fremont
Spotted lanternfly documented 24 miles from Fremont, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Fremont
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fremont. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SANTA CLARA VALLEY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITYBrownfields · 1800 ft
- PACIFIC SURFACING LLCBrownfields · 1800 ft
- TRI CITY CIRCUITS INCToxics Release Inventory · 1900 ft
- TRI CITY CIRCUITS INCBrownfields · 1900 ft
- ERS INDUSTRIAL SERVICESBrownfields · 1900 ft
- RUSSETT DIESEL SERVICE INCBrownfields · 1900 ft
- PG&E FREMONT FIELD GARAGEBrownfields · 2000 ft
- BAYWOOD EXPRESS INCBrownfields · 2000 ft
- PL CONSTRUCTION SERVICES INCBrownfields · 2000 ft
- LITTELFUSE, INC.Brownfields · 2000 ft
- BREAKWATER RESEARCHBrownfields · 2000 ft
- C&T AUTO REPAIRBrownfields · 2100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fremont's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Fremont.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Fremont
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fremont
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Fremont, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Fremont — Brownfields (6,234 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (443 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Fremont
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fremont average
Your land is one point inside Fremont
Everything above resolves to Fremont as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 50K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Alameda County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’s own centroid. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at city scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Fremont Average
Fremont Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Fremont
- ●One soil character for all of Fremont
- ●Frost dates read at Fremont's scale: Jan 12 to Dec 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fremont's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fremont
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fremont, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fremont averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fremont — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fremont average
How we know this about Fremont
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Alameda County’s record, because none resolves here; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Fremont
When does frost risk typically end in Fremont?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fremont typically lands around Jan 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Feb 2.
When is the first frost in Fremont?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fremont typically arrives around Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 28, so the watching starts about Nov 12 — about 334 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Fremont?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fremont sees about 334 frost-free days — roughly Jan 12 through Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 2 to Nov 28, about 299 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fremont?
The federal record around Fremont runs heavier than most — 7,093 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (6,234), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Fremont?
From about Nov 12 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Dec 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Dec 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Fremont's scale — its 10a band and its 334-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fremont's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Fremont’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Fremont's own scale — the 49,986 acres it covers and 7,093 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fremont's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 7,093 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fremont, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fremont's boundary and the 49,986 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Fremont's own centroid, the Central California Foothills and Coastal MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Fremontlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Fremont has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Alameda County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Fremont's 49,986 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Alameda County
- The candidate plant list — California's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom California
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Alameda County
- The growing challenges every California grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom California
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Alameda County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Fremont's 49,986 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fremont you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 49,986 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Fremont-wide figureread your own land →