Little Valley, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, pawpaw, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Little 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 Little 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 Little Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Little Valley — the short answer
Little Valley, California: USDA zone 7a, about 174 days between hard freezes, across 266 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~174
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 266 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 7a is Little Valley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Little Valley's 174-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Little Valley
Each reading below is measured for Little Valley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLittle Valley runs about 174 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
MeasuredLittle Valley sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Little Valley is in
Little Valley sits in the Eastern Cascades Slopes and Foothills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Little Valley's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lassen County.
What Grows in Little Valley
Every plant below cleared Little Valley's own zone 7a and its 174-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Little 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 Mar 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 19 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Little Valley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Little Valley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 035N007E15P001MNitrate · 1100 ft
Measured from Little 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 Little Valley.
Total Sites
2
within ~10 miles of Little Valley
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 nitrate monitoring sites
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Little Valley
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Little 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 Little Valley average
Your land is one point inside Little Valley
Everything above resolves to Little Valley as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 266 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 Little Valley Average
Little Valley Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Little Valley
- ●One soil character for all of Little Valley
- ●Frost dates read at Little Valley's scale: Apr 28 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Little Valley's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Little Valley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Little Valley, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Little Valley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Little Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Little Valley average
How we know this about Little 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 Little Valley’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 Little Valley
When does frost risk typically end in Little Valley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Little Valley typically lands around Apr 28, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Little Valley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Little Valley typically arrives around Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 5, so the watching starts about Sep 19 — about 174 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Little Valley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Little Valley sees about 174 frost-free days — roughly Apr 28 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 19 to Oct 5, about 139 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Little Valley?
The federal record around Little Valley is light — 2 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (2), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Little Valley?
From about Sep 19 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Little Valley's scale — its 7a band and its 174-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Little 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 Little Valley’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Little Valley's own scale — its own ~174-day season between 28°F freezes, the 266 acres it covers and 2 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Little Valley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Little Valley's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 28 and Oct 19 and the ~174-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 2 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Little Valley, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Little Valley's boundary and the 266 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~174-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Little Valley'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 Little Valley's 266 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lassen County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lassen 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 Lassen County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Little Valley's 266 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Little 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 266 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Little Valley-wide figureread your own land →
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