Homestead Valley, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Homestead Valley, 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 Homestead Valley 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 Homestead Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Homestead Valley — the short answer
Homestead Valley, California: USDA zone 9a, about 328 days between hard freezes, across 22K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 18
- San Bernardino County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 12
- San Bernardino County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~328
- San Bernardino County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 22K 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 San Bernardino County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Homestead Valley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Homestead Valley's 328-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Homestead Valley
Each reading below is measured for Homestead Valley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHomestead Valley runs about 328 days between hard freezes (read from San Bernardino County, the closest normal to Homestead Valley) — 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
MeasuredHomestead Valley 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 Homestead Valley is in
Homestead Valley sits in the Mojave Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Homestead Valley's own centroid rather than borrowed from San Bernardino County.
What Grows in Homestead Valley
Every plant below cleared Homestead Valley's own zone 9a and its 328-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Homestead Valley?
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 18 (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. 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 Homestead Valley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Homestead Valley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 002N005E12B001SNitrate · 2500 ft
- 002N005E12N001SNitrate · 0.5 mi
- 002N005E13A001SNitrate · 0.8 mi
- 002N006E18B002SNitrate · 1.3 mi
- 002N005E24H001SNitrate · 1.9 mi
- 002N005E24H002SNitrate · 1.9 mi
- MOJAVE LIQUORBrownfields · 2.3 mi
- MOJAVE LIQUOR & MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- 002N005E27A001SNitrate · 2.9 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL #13656Brownfields · 3.1 mi
- BIGHORN DESERT VIEW WATER AGENCYBrownfields · 3.2 mi
- THE HERO MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Homestead Valley'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 Homestead Valley.
Total Sites
127
within ~10 miles of Homestead Valley
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Homestead Valley
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Homestead Valley
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Homestead Valley, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 92 sites within ~10 miles of Homestead Valley. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Homestead Valley
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 Homestead Valley average
Your land is one point inside Homestead Valley
Everything above resolves to Homestead Valley as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 22K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from San Bernardino 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 Homestead Valley Average
Homestead Valley Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Homestead Valley
- ●One soil character for all of Homestead Valley
- ●Frost dates read at Homestead Valley's scale: Jan 18 to Dec 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Homestead Valley's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Homestead Valley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Homestead Valley, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Homestead Valley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Homestead Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Homestead Valley average
How we know this about Homestead Valley
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 San Bernardino 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 Homestead Valley
When does frost risk typically end in Homestead Valley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Homestead Valley typically lands around Jan 18, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Homestead Valley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Homestead Valley 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 328 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Homestead Valley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Homestead Valley sees about 328 frost-free days — roughly Jan 18 through Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 8 to Nov 28, about 293 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Homestead Valley?
The federal record around Homestead Valley is a meaningful one — 127 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (92), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.5 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 Homestead Valley?
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 Homestead Valley's scale — its 9a band and its 328-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Homestead Valley'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 Homestead Valley’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Homestead Valley's own scale — the 21,668 acres it covers and 127 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Homestead Valley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 127 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Homestead Valley, the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Homestead Valley's boundary and the 21,668 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~328-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Homestead Valley's own centroid, the Mojave Basin and RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Homestead Valley has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom San Bernardino County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Homestead Valley's 21,668 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom San Bernardino County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom San Bernardino 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 San Bernardino County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Homestead Valley's 21,668 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Homestead Valley you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 21,668 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 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 Homestead Valley-wide figureread your own land →