Gustine, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
These conditions suit artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Gustine, 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 Gustine 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 Gustine — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Gustine — the short answer
Gustine, California: USDA zone 9a, about 318 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 21
- Merced County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 5
- Merced County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~318
- Merced County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 1K 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 Merced County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Gustine's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gustine's 318-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Gustine
Each reading below is measured for Gustine itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsGustine runs about 318 days between hard freezes (read from Merced County, the closest normal to Gustine) — 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
MeasuredGustine sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Gustine is in
Gustine sits in the Central California Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Gustine's own centroid rather than borrowed from Merced County.
What Grows in Gustine
Every plant below cleared Gustine's own zone 9a and its 318-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Gustine?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 5 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Gustine
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Gustine. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CARNATION CO CAN DIVBrownfields · 300 ft
- BETTENCOURT BROS INCBrownfields · 350 ft
- TONYS TRUCK & TRAILER REPAIRBrownfields · 350 ft
- NESTLE FOOD COToxics Release Inventory · 350 ft
- 008S009E09M001MNitrate · 400 ft
- 008S009E08H003MNitrate · 650 ft
- TECHNICAL FABRICATIONBrownfields · 650 ft
- RICHARD'S MARKET & LIQUORBrownfields · 800 ft
- Richard's Market & LiquorUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- GUSTINE SMOG STATION LLCBrownfields · 900 ft
- 008S009E08H002MNitrate · 1000 ft
- SAPUTO DAIRY FOODS USA LLCBrownfields · 1100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Gustine'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 Gustine.
Total Sites
433
within ~10 miles of Gustine
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Gustine
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Gustine
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Gustine, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 268 sites within ~10 miles of Gustine. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Gustine
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 Gustine average
Your land is one point inside Gustine
Everything above resolves to Gustine as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Merced 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 Gustine Average
Gustine Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Gustine
- ●One soil character for all of Gustine
- ●Frost dates read at Gustine's scale: Jan 21 to Dec 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gustine's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Gustine
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gustine, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gustine averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gustine — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gustine average
How we know this about Gustine
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 Merced 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 Gustine
When does frost risk typically end in Gustine?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gustine typically lands around Jan 21, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Gustine?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Gustine typically arrives around Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 21, so the watching starts about Nov 5 — about 318 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Gustine?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gustine sees about 318 frost-free days — roughly Jan 21 through Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 11 to Nov 21, about 283 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Gustine?
The federal record around Gustine is a meaningful one — 433 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (268), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Gustine?
From about Nov 5 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Gustine's scale — its 9a band and its 318-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gustine'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 Gustine’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Gustine's own scale — the 1,203 acres it covers and 433 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gustine's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 433 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Gustine, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Gustine's boundary and the 1,203 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~318-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Gustine's own centroid, the Central California ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Gustine has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Merced County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Gustine's 1,203 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Merced County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Merced 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 Merced County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Gustine's 1,203 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Gustine you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,203 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Gustine-wide figureread your own land →