Manteca, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
On paper, okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Manteca, 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 Manteca 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 Manteca — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Manteca — the short answer
Manteca, California: USDA zone 9b, about 321 days between hard freezes, across 14K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 24
- San Joaquin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 11
- San Joaquin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~321
- San Joaquin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 14K 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 San Joaquin County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Manteca's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Manteca's 321-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Manteca
Each reading below is measured for Manteca itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsManteca runs about 321 days between hard freezes (read from San Joaquin County, the closest normal to Manteca) — 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
MeasuredManteca sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 Manteca is in
Manteca sits in the Central California Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Manteca's own centroid rather than borrowed from San Joaquin County.
What Grows in Manteca
Every plant below cleared Manteca's own zone 9b and its 321-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Manteca?
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 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 11 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Manteca
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Manteca. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GORDON RESEARCH CO/DTSC ORPHAN SITEBrownfields · 1600 ft
- RANDHAWA TRANSPORT INCBrownfields · 1700 ft
- ABC TRANSMISSIONS INCBrownfields · 2400 ft
- 7-ELEVEN INC #17647Brownfields · 2400 ft
- 7-ELEVEN INC #17647Underground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- DALEN ENTERPRICES INC DBA MEINEKEBrownfields · 2400 ft
- J AND G TRUCKINGBrownfields · 2500 ft
- MANTECA AUTOLANDBrownfields · 2500 ft
- MANTECA AUTO AND DIESEL REPAIRBrownfields · 2500 ft
- D & D AUTOWORKSBrownfields · 2500 ft
- HECTOR AND SONS AUTO SERVICE INCBrownfields · 2500 ft
- LE AUTOMOTIVEBrownfields · 2500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Manteca'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 Manteca.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Manteca
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Manteca
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Manteca, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 1,160 sites within ~10 miles of Manteca. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in Manteca
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 Manteca average
Your land is one point inside Manteca
Everything above resolves to Manteca as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 14K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from San Joaquin County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 city 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 Manteca Average
Manteca Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Manteca
- ●One soil character for all of Manteca
- ●Frost dates read at Manteca's scale: Jan 24 to Dec 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Manteca's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Manteca
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Manteca, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Manteca averages can't show:
We read public map data around Manteca — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Manteca average
How we know this about Manteca
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at San Joaquin 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Manteca
When does frost risk typically end in Manteca?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Manteca typically lands around Jan 24, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Manteca?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Manteca typically arrives around Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 27, so the watching starts about Nov 11 — about 321 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Manteca?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Manteca sees about 321 frost-free days — roughly Jan 24 through Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 14 to Nov 27, about 286 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Manteca?
The federal record around Manteca is a meaningful one — 1,567 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (1,160), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 I protect my plants from frost in Manteca?
From about Nov 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Manteca's scale — its 9b band and its 321-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Manteca'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 Manteca’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Manteca's own scale — the 13,930 acres it covers and 1,567 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Manteca's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,567 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Manteca, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Manteca's boundary and the 13,930 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~321-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Manteca's own centroid, the Central California ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Manteca has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom San Joaquin County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Manteca's 13,930 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom San Joaquin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom San Joaquin 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 San Joaquin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Manteca's 13,930 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Manteca you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 13,930 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 Manteca-wide figureread your own land →