Kingsburg, 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.
Crops well matched to these conditions include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Kingsburg, 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 Kingsburg 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 Kingsburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Kingsburg — the short answer
Kingsburg, California: USDA zone 9b, about 329 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 16
- Fresno County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 11
- Fresno County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~329
- Fresno County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Fresno County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Kingsburg's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Kingsburg's 329-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Kingsburg
Each reading below is measured for Kingsburg itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsKingsburg runs about 329 days between hard freezes (read from Fresno County, the closest normal to Kingsburg) — 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
MeasuredKingsburg 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 Kingsburg is in
Kingsburg sits in the Central California Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Kingsburg's own centroid rather than borrowed from Fresno County.
What Grows in Kingsburg
Every plant below cleared Kingsburg's own zone 9b and its 329-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Kingsburg?
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 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 11 — 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 Kingsburg
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Kingsburg. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CENCAL CNC, INCBrownfields · 1200 ft
- SAFE FOOD ALLIANCE A DIVISION OF DFABrownfields · 2000 ft
- KINGSBURG TOWINGBrownfields · 2000 ft
- KMART 4705Brownfields · 2300 ft
- WABO LANDSCAPE & CONSTRUCTION KINGSBURG YARDBrownfields · 2400 ft
- SHELL SERVICE STATIONBrownfields · 2500 ft
- CENTRAL CALIFORNIA SHEETS, LLCBrownfields · 2500 ft
- SILVAS OIL COMPANY, INC.Brownfields · 2600 ft
- FAST N ESY #15Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- TOSCO BULK PLANT 0331Brownfields · 0.5 mi
- Silvas Oil Company Inc. KingsburgUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- KINGSBURG AM/PMUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Kingsburg'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 Kingsburg.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Kingsburg
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Kingsburg
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Kingsburg, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 571 sites within ~10 miles of Kingsburg. 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.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in Kingsburg
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 Kingsburg average
Your land is one point inside Kingsburg
Everything above resolves to Kingsburg as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Fresno 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 Kingsburg Average
Kingsburg Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Kingsburg
- ●One soil character for all of Kingsburg
- ●Frost dates read at Kingsburg's scale: Jan 16 to Dec 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Kingsburg's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Kingsburg
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Kingsburg, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Kingsburg averages can't show:
We read public map data around Kingsburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Kingsburg average
How we know this about Kingsburg
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 Fresno 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 Kingsburg
When does frost risk typically end in Kingsburg?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Kingsburg typically lands around Jan 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 Feb 6.
When is the first frost in Kingsburg?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Kingsburg typically arrives around Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 27, so the watching starts about Nov 11 — about 329 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Kingsburg?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Kingsburg sees about 329 frost-free days — roughly Jan 16 through Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 6 to Nov 27, about 294 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Kingsburg?
The federal record around Kingsburg is a meaningful one — 745 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (571), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Kingsburg?
From about Nov 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Kingsburg's scale — its 9b band and its 329-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Kingsburg'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 Kingsburg’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Kingsburg's own scale — the 2,396 acres it covers and 745 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Kingsburg's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 745 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Kingsburg, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Kingsburg's boundary and the 2,396 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~329-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Kingsburg's own centroid, the Central California ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Kingsburg has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Fresno County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Kingsburg's 2,396 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Fresno County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Fresno 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 Fresno County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Kingsburg's 2,396 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Kingsburg you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,396 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Kingsburg-wide figureread your own land →