Hardwick, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Growers here do well with okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Hardwick, 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 Hardwick 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 Hardwick — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hardwick — the short answer
Hardwick, California: USDA zone 9b, about 323 days between hard freezes, across 89 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 17
- Kings County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Kings County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~323
- Kings County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 89 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 Kings County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Hardwick's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hardwick's 323-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hardwick
Each reading below is measured for Hardwick itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHardwick runs about 323 days between hard freezes (read from Kings County, the closest normal to Hardwick) — 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
MeasuredHardwick sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 Hardwick is in
Hardwick sits in the Central California Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Hardwick's own centroid rather than borrowed from Kings County.
What Grows in Hardwick
Every plant below cleared Hardwick's own zone 9b and its 323-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hardwick?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 17 (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. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Hardwick
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hardwick. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KASBERGAN FAMILY TRUSTBrownfields · 2000 ft
- 018S020E01A001MNitrate · 1.4 mi
- ENW FARMS INCBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- EAGLE AG INCBrownfields · 1.7 mi
- AP MATTOS & SONS INCBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- DON & STEVE BETTENCOURT FARMS LLCBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- RIVERWEST LEVELING INCBrownfields · 1.9 mi
- NEW CINGULAR WIRELESS PCS LLCBrownfields · 2.0 mi
- DUTRA DAIRYBrownfields · 2.0 mi
- MICKEY MURRAYBrownfields · 2.0 mi
- NETTO AG INC DBA DOUBLEBrownfields · 2.1 mi
- KINGS RIVER COMMODITIES LLCBrownfields · 2.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hardwick'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 Hardwick.
Total Sites
754
within ~10 miles of Hardwick
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hardwick
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hardwick
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hardwick, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 518 sites within ~10 miles of Hardwick. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in Hardwick
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 Hardwick average
Your land is one point inside Hardwick
Everything above resolves to Hardwick as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 89 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Kings 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 Hardwick Average
Hardwick Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Hardwick
- ●One soil character for all of Hardwick
- ●Frost dates read at Hardwick's scale: Jan 17 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hardwick's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hardwick
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hardwick, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hardwick averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hardwick — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hardwick average
How we know this about Hardwick
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 Kings 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 Hardwick
When does frost risk typically end in Hardwick?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hardwick typically lands around Jan 17, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Hardwick?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hardwick 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 323 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hardwick?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hardwick sees about 323 frost-free days — roughly Jan 17 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 7 to Nov 22, about 288 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hardwick?
The federal record around Hardwick is a meaningful one — 754 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (518), the nearest Brownfields 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 Hardwick?
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 Hardwick's scale — its 9b band and its 323-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hardwick'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 Hardwick’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Hardwick's own scale — the 89 acres it covers and 754 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hardwick's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 754 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hardwick, the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hardwick's boundary and the 89 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~323-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hardwick's own centroid, the Central California ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Hardwick has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Kings County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hardwick's 89 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Kings County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Kings 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 Kings County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hardwick's 89 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hardwick you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 89 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Hardwick-wide figureread your own land →