Macdoel, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
The conditions favor cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Macdoel, 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 Macdoel 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 Macdoel — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Macdoel — the short answer
Macdoel, California: USDA zone 6b, about 130 days between hard freezes, across 107 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~130
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 107 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 Macdoel's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Macdoel's 130-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Macdoel
Each reading below is measured for Macdoel itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMacdoel runs about 130 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredMacdoel 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 Macdoel is in
Macdoel sits in the Eastern Cascades Slopes and Foothills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Macdoel's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Siskiyou County is mostly Klamath Mountains/California High North Coast Range. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Macdoel
Every plant below cleared Macdoel's own zone 6b and its 130-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Macdoel?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 5 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Macdoel
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Macdoel. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- AT&T MOBILITYBrownfields · 550 ft
- Macdoel ShellUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- PLANT SCIENCES INCBrownfields · 1400 ft
- 046N001W17G002MNitrate · 1500 ft
- NORCAL NURSERY, INC (MACDOEL RANCH)Brownfields · 2.7 mi
- MT. HEBRON WORK CENTERSuperfund · 2.8 mi
- 046N001W32K002MNitrate · 2.8 mi
- USDA USFS R05 SHASTA-TRINITY NF MT. SHASTA RANGER DISTRICTBrownfields · 2.8 mi
- SIERRA CASCADE NURSERYBrownfields · 3.9 mi
- CUSTOM CRUSHING INDUSTRIES INCBrownfields · 4.9 mi
- GENCORToxics Release Inventory · 5.5 mi
- SISKIYOU COUNTY ROAD DEPT DISTRICT 6Brownfields · 7.7 mi
1 more site is on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Macdoel'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 Macdoel.
Total Sites
15
within ~10 miles of Macdoel
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Macdoel
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Macdoel
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •A Superfund listing means federally documented contamination. Test soil and water before planting edibles nearby.
Check your specific parcel in Macdoel
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 Macdoel average
Your land is one point inside Macdoel
Everything above resolves to Macdoel as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 107 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 Macdoel Average
Macdoel Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Macdoel
- ●One soil character for all of Macdoel
- ●Frost dates read at Macdoel's scale: May 28 to Oct 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Macdoel's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Macdoel
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Macdoel, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Macdoel averages can't show:
We read public map data around Macdoel — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Macdoel average
How we know this about Macdoel
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 Macdoel’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 Macdoel
When does frost risk typically end in Macdoel?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Macdoel typically lands around May 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 Jun 18.
When is the first frost in Macdoel?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Macdoel typically arrives around Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 21, so the watching starts about Sep 5 — about 130 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Macdoel?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Macdoel sees about 130 frost-free days — roughly May 28 through Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 18 to Sep 21, about 95 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Macdoel?
The federal record around Macdoel is a meaningful one — 15 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (8), 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.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Macdoel?
With about 130 frost-free days between hard freezes, Macdoel 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 158 to 186 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 28 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Macdoel's scale — its 6b band and its 130-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Macdoel'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 Macdoel’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Macdoel's own scale — its own ~130-day season between 28°F freezes, the 107 acres it covers and 15 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Macdoel's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Macdoel's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 28 and Oct 5 and the ~130-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 15 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Macdoel, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Macdoel's boundary and the 107 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~130-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Macdoel sits in the Eastern Cascades Slopes and Foothills — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Macdoel's 107 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Siskiyou County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Siskiyou 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 Siskiyou County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Macdoel's 107 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Macdoel you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 107 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Macdoel-wide figureread your own land →
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