Moss Landing, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
These conditions suit avocado, meyer lemon, tomato, and artichoke — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Moss Landing, 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 Moss Landing 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 Moss Landing — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Moss Landing — the short answer
Moss Landing, California: USDA zone 10a, about 317 days between hard freezes, across 251 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- 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
- 251 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 10a is Moss Landing's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Moss Landing's 317-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Moss Landing
Each reading below is measured for Moss Landing itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMoss Landing runs about 317 days between hard freezes (read from Monterey County, the closest normal to Moss Landing) — 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
MeasuredMoss Landing sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a.
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 Moss Landing is in
Moss Landing sits in the Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Moss Landing's own centroid rather than borrowed from Monterey County.
What Grows in Moss Landing
Plants matched to Moss Landing's USDA zones 10a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Moss Landing?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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. 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 Moss Landing
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Moss Landing. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PENINSULA DIESELBrownfields · 200 ft
- MOSS LANDING MARINE LLC DBA WOODWARD MARINEBrownfields · 250 ft
- SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITYBrownfields · 500 ft
- PG&E MOSS LANDING POWER PLANT PRIMARY NATURAL GAS REGULATOR STATIONBrownfields · 950 ft
- Moss Landing Magnesia PlantMining · 1300 ft
- MOSS LANDING MARINE LLC DBA MOSS LANDING BOAT WORKSBrownfields · 1300 ft
- MONTEREY BAY MARINE INCBrownfields · 1300 ft
- VISTRA MOSS LANDING POWER PLANTSuperfund · 1400 ft
- MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM RESEARCH INSTITUTEBrownfields · 1500 ft
- MOSS LANDING CEMENT COMPANY FACILITYToxics Release Inventory · 1800 ft
- MOSS LANDING CEMENT COMPANY FACILITYBrownfields · 1800 ft
- SJSU MOSS LANDING MARINE LABBrownfields · 1900 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Moss Landing'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 Moss Landing.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Moss Landing
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Moss Landing
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Moss Landing, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 703 sites within ~10 miles of Moss Landing. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Moss Landing
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 Moss Landing average
Your land is one point inside Moss Landing
Everything above resolves to Moss Landing as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 251 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 Moss Landing Average
Moss Landing Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Moss Landing
- ●One soil character for all of Moss Landing
- ●Frost dates read at Moss Landing's scale: Jan 27 to Dec 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Moss Landing's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Moss Landing
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Moss Landing, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Moss Landing averages can't show:
We read public map data around Moss Landing — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Moss Landing average
How we know this about Moss Landing
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 Moss Landing
When does frost risk typically end in Moss Landing?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Moss Landing 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 Moss Landing?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Moss Landing 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 Moss Landing?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Moss Landing 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 Moss Landing?
The federal record around Moss Landing is a meaningful one — 902 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (703), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Moss Landing?
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 Moss Landing's scale — its 10a band and its 317-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Moss Landing'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 Moss Landing’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Moss Landing's own scale — the 251 acres it covers and 902 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Moss Landing's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 902 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Moss Landing, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Moss Landing's boundary and the 251 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Moss Landing'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 — Moss Landing 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 Moss Landing's 251 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Monterey County
- The candidate plant list — California's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom California
- 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 Moss Landing's 251 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Moss Landing you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 251 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Moss Landing-wide figureread your own land →