Likely, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Expect cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Likely, 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 Likely 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 Likely — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Likely — the short answer
Likely, California: USDA zone 6b, about 157 days between hard freezes, across 851 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~157
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 851 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 6b is Likely's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Likely's 157-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Likely
Each reading below is measured for Likely itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLikely runs about 157 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredLikely sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Likely is in
Likely sits in the Eastern Cascades Slopes and Foothills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Likely's own centroid rather than borrowed from Modoc County.
What Grows in Likely
Every plant below cleared Likely's own zone 6b and its 157-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Likely?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 9 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Likely
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Likely. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Likely General StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- MODOC COUNTY-DEPT. PUB. WORKSBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- TUSCARORA GAS TRANSMISSION LIKELY COMPRESSOR STATIONBrownfields · 5.3 mi
- UnknownMining · 6.9 mi
- Brown ProspectMining · 7.0 mi
- ALTURAS RANCHES LLCBrownfields · 9.6 mi
Measured from Likely'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 Likely.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Likely
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Likely
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 Likely average
Your land is one point inside Likely
Everything above resolves to Likely as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 851 acres. 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 Likely Average
Likely Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Likely
- ●One soil character for all of Likely
- ●Frost dates read at Likely's scale: May 5 to Oct 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Likely's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Likely
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Likely, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Likely averages can't show:
We read public map data around Likely — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Likely average
How we know this about Likely
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 Likely’s own record; 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 Likely
When does frost risk typically end in Likely?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Likely typically lands around May 5, 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 May 26.
When is the first frost in Likely?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Likely typically arrives around Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 25, so the watching starts about Sep 9 — about 157 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Likely?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Likely sees about 157 frost-free days — roughly May 5 through Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 26 to Sep 25, about 122 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Likely?
The federal record around Likely shows 7 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (3), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Likely?
From about Sep 9 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 Oct 9 (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 Oct 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Likely's scale — its 6b band and its 157-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Likely'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 Likely’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Likely's own scale — its own ~157-day season between 28°F freezes, the 851 acres it covers and 7 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Likely's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Likely's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 5 and Oct 9 and the ~157-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 7 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Likely, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Likely's boundary and the 851 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~157-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Likely's own centroid, the Eastern Cascades Slopes and FoothillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Likely's 851 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Modoc County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Modoc 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 Modoc County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Likely's 851 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Likely you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 851 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Likely-wide figureread your own land →
More in California
Growing region
Nearby growing guides