Lockwood, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lockwood, 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 Lockwood 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 Lockwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Lockwood — the short answer
Lockwood, California: USDA zone 9a, about 317 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 27
- Monterey County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 10
- Monterey County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~317
- Monterey County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 7K 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 Monterey County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Lockwood's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lockwood's 317-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lockwood
Each reading below is measured for Lockwood itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLockwood runs about 317 days between hard freezes (read from Monterey County, the closest normal to Lockwood) — 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
MeasuredLockwood 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 Lockwood is in
Lockwood sits in the Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Lockwood's own centroid rather than borrowed from Monterey County.
What Grows in Lockwood
Every plant below cleared Lockwood's own zone 9a and its 317-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lockwood?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. 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 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 10 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Lockwood
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lockwood. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PACIFIC BELLBrownfields · 1700 ft
- LOCKWOOD STOREBrownfields · 1800 ft
- DALTON PIPELINE AND EXCAVATINGBrownfields · 1800 ft
- PLEYTO MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.7 mi
- Bryson MineMining · 6.7 mi
- BottsMining · 6.9 mi
- Botts DepositMining · 6.9 mi
- FORT HUNTER LIGGETT POLUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
- HENRY & SONS INCBrownfields · 8.6 mi
- 023S010E31A001SNitrate · 9.3 mi
- AAFESUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.4 mi
- NEIL BASSETTI FARMS LLCBrownfields · 9.5 mi
4 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lockwood'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 Lockwood.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lockwood
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lockwood
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 Lockwood
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 Lockwood average
Your land is one point inside Lockwood
Everything above resolves to Lockwood as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 7K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Monterey 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 Lockwood Average
Lockwood Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Lockwood
- ●One soil character for all of Lockwood
- ●Frost dates read at Lockwood's scale: Jan 27 to Dec 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lockwood's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lockwood
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lockwood, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lockwood averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lockwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lockwood average
How we know this about Lockwood
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 Monterey 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 Lockwood
When does frost risk typically end in Lockwood?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lockwood typically lands around Jan 27, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Lockwood?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lockwood typically arrives around Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 26, so the watching starts about Nov 10 — about 317 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lockwood?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lockwood sees about 317 frost-free days — roughly Jan 27 through Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 17 to Nov 26, about 282 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lockwood?
The federal record around Lockwood shows 18 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (10), the nearest Brownfields 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 Lockwood?
From about Nov 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lockwood's scale — its 9a band and its 317-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lockwood'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 Lockwood’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Lockwood's own scale — the 6,958 acres it covers and 18 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lockwood's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 18 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lockwood, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lockwood's boundary and the 6,958 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~317-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lockwood's own centroid, the Central California Foothills and Coastal MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lockwood has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Monterey County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lockwood's 6,958 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Monterey County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Monterey 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 Monterey County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lockwood's 6,958 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lockwood you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 6,958 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Lockwood-wide figureread your own land →