Manton, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
The conditions favor artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Manton, 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 Manton 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 Manton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Manton — the short answer
Manton, California: USDA zone 9a, about 282 days between hard freezes, across 11K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~282
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 11K 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 9a is Manton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Manton's 282-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Manton
Each reading below is measured for Manton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredManton runs about 282 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredManton 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 Manton is in
Manton sits in the Cascades — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Manton's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Tehama County is mostly Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Manton
Every plant below cleared Manton's own zone 9a and its 282-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Manton?
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 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 4 — 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 Manton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Manton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PG&E MANTON SERVICE CENTERBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- 030N002E18J001MNitrate · 3.2 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE #16381Brownfields · 4.9 mi
- SHINGLETOWN STORE INCBrownfields · 4.9 mi
- Maruti ShingletownUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- REEDS MARKETBrownfields · 5.0 mi
- Reed's MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- 031N001E26P001MNitrate · 5.5 mi
- 031N001E31K001MNitrate · 5.6 mi
- SHASTA COUNTY DEPT OF RESOURCE MGMNTBrownfields · 6.3 mi
- DARRAH SPRINGS FISH HATCHERYBrownfields · 6.8 mi
- ALLTEL TUOLUMNE TELEPHONE COBrownfields · 7.5 mi
5 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Manton'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 Manton.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Manton
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Manton
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 Manton average
Your land is one point inside Manton
Everything above resolves to Manton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 11K 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 Manton Average
Manton Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Manton
- ●One soil character for all of Manton
- ●Frost dates read at Manton's scale: Feb 25 to Dec 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Manton's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Manton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Manton, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Manton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Manton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Manton average
How we know this about Manton
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 Manton’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 Manton
When does frost risk typically end in Manton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Manton typically lands around Feb 25, 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 Mar 18.
When is the first frost in Manton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Manton typically arrives around Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 20, so the watching starts about Nov 4 — about 282 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Manton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Manton sees about 282 frost-free days — roughly Feb 25 through Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 18 to Nov 20, about 247 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Manton?
The federal record around Manton is light — 23 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (12), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.1 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 Manton?
From about Nov 4 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 4 (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 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Manton's scale — its 9a band and its 282-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Manton'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 Manton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Manton's own scale — its own ~282-day season between 28°F freezes, the 11,325 acres it covers and 23 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Manton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Manton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Feb 25 and Dec 4 and the ~282-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 23 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Manton, the closest Brownfields record about 1.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Manton's boundary and the 11,325 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~282-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Manton sits in the Cascades — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Manton's 11,325 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Tehama County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Tehama 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 Tehama County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Manton's 11,325 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Manton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 11,325 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 1.1 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 Manton-wide figureread your own land →