What Grows in Lee Vining, California

The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lee Vining typically lands around May 23, 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 Jun 13.

The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lee Vining typically arrives around Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 23, so the watching starts about Sep 7 — about 137 days after the spring freeze cleared.

Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lee Vining sees about 137 frost-free days — roughly May 23 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 13 to Sep 23, about 102 days.

The federal record around Lee Vining is a meaningful one — 37 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (22), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 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.

With about 137 frost-free days between hard freezes, Lee Vining rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 165 to 193 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 23 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.