Gasquet, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Gasquet, 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 Gasquet 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 Gasquet — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Gasquet — the short answer
Gasquet, California: USDA zone 8b, about 293 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 16
- Del Norte County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Del Norte County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~293
- Del Norte County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Del Norte County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Gasquet's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gasquet's 293-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Gasquet
Each reading below is measured for Gasquet itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsGasquet runs about 293 days between hard freezes (read from Del Norte County, the closest normal to Gasquet) — 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
MeasuredGasquet sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 Gasquet is in
Gasquet sits in the Klamath Mountains/California High North Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Gasquet's own centroid rather than borrowed from Del Norte County.
What Grows in Gasquet
Every plant below cleared Gasquet's own zone 8b and its 293-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Gasquet?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 6 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Gasquet
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Gasquet. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Del NorteMining · 2200 ft
- MargyMining · 0.8 mi
- FairviewMining · 0.9 mi
- EdwardsMining · 1.2 mi
- Star and Rough and ReadyMining · 1.5 mi
- NegroheadMining · 1.6 mi
- Angela Chromite MineMining · 1.9 mi
- BlackjackMining · 1.9 mi
- Tyson Chrome MineMining · 2.1 mi
- French Hill Chrome MineMining · 2.1 mi
- French Hill MineMining · 2.1 mi
- Lower Elk Camp Ridge DepositMining · 2.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Gasquet'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 Gasquet.
Total Sites
208
within ~10 miles of Gasquet
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Gasquet
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Gasquet
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Gasquet, Mining runs higher than the national average — 190 sites within ~10 miles of Gasquet. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Gasquet
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 Gasquet average
Your land is one point inside Gasquet
Everything above resolves to Gasquet as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Del Norte County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’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 town 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 Gasquet Average
Gasquet Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Gasquet
- ●One soil character for all of Gasquet
- ●Frost dates read at Gasquet's scale: Feb 16 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gasquet's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Gasquet
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gasquet, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gasquet averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gasquet — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gasquet average
How we know this about Gasquet
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Del Norte 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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Gasquet
When does frost risk typically end in Gasquet?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gasquet typically lands around Feb 16, 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 Mar 9.
When is the first frost in Gasquet?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Gasquet typically arrives around Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 22, so the watching starts about Nov 6 — about 293 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Gasquet?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gasquet sees about 293 frost-free days — roughly Feb 16 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 9 to Nov 22, about 258 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Gasquet?
The federal record around Gasquet is a meaningful one — 208 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (190), the nearest Mining record about 0.4 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Gasquet?
From about Nov 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Gasquet's scale — its 8b band and its 293-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gasquet'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 Gasquet’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Gasquet's own scale — the 3,044 acres it covers and 208 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gasquet's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 208 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Gasquet, the closest Mining record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Gasquet's boundary and the 3,044 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~293-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Gasquet's own centroid, the Klamath Mountains/California High North Coast RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Gasquet has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Del Norte County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Gasquet's 3,044 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Del Norte County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Del Norte 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 Del Norte County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Gasquet's 3,044 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Gasquet you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,044 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Mining record about 0.4 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 Gasquet-wide figureread your own land →
More in California
Wider growing context
What grows across CaliforniaGasquet sits outside our named growing regions, so California as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides