Hickman, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Hickman, 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 Hickman 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 Hickman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Hickman — the short answer
Hickman, California: USDA zone 9b, about 322 days between hard freezes, across 225 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 22
- Stanislaus County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 10
- Stanislaus County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~322
- Stanislaus County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 225 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 Stanislaus County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Hickman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hickman's 322-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hickman
Each reading below is measured for Hickman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHickman runs about 322 days between hard freezes (read from Stanislaus County, the closest normal to Hickman) — 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
MeasuredHickman 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 Hickman is in
Hickman sits in the Central California Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Hickman's own centroid rather than borrowed from Stanislaus County.
What Grows in Hickman
Every plant below cleared Hickman's own zone 9b and its 322-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hickman?
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 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 10 — 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 Hickman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hickman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 003S011E34N001MNitrate · 1800 ft
- STANISLAUS COUNTY - DERHMDBrownfields · 1900 ft
- REED INTERNATIONAL DBA SAUNCOBrownfields · 1900 ft
- GRAY FARMBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- LESTER HENSLEEBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- STACKHOUSE HARVESTINGBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- Foster Dairy Farm #2Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- FOSTER DAIRY FARMSBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- 003S011E34C002MNitrate · 1.2 mi
- 003S011E34C001MNitrate · 1.2 mi
- FRANTZ WHOLESALE NURSERYBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- ACOSTA & SONS INCBrownfields · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hickman'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 Hickman.
Total Sites
574
within ~10 miles of Hickman
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hickman
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hickman
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hickman, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Hickman — Brownfields (404 sites) and PFAS (5 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Hickman
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 Hickman average
Your land is one point inside Hickman
Everything above resolves to Hickman as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 225 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Stanislaus 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 Hickman Average
Hickman Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Hickman
- ●One soil character for all of Hickman
- ●Frost dates read at Hickman's scale: Jan 22 to Dec 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hickman's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hickman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hickman, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hickman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hickman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hickman average
How we know this about Hickman
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 Stanislaus 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 Hickman
When does frost risk typically end in Hickman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hickman typically lands around Jan 22, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Hickman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hickman typically arrives around Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 26, so the watching starts about Nov 10 — about 322 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hickman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hickman sees about 322 frost-free days — roughly Jan 22 through Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 12 to Nov 26, about 287 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hickman?
The federal record around Hickman is a meaningful one — 574 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (404), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.3 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 Hickman?
From about Nov 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hickman's scale — its 9b band and its 322-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hickman'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 Hickman’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Hickman's own scale — the 225 acres it covers and 574 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hickman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 574 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hickman, the closest Nitrate record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hickman's boundary and the 225 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~322-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hickman's own centroid, the Central California ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Hickman has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Stanislaus County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hickman's 225 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Stanislaus County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Stanislaus 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 Stanislaus County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hickman's 225 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hickman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 225 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Hickman-wide figureread your own land →