Newell, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
These conditions suit cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Newell, 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 Newell 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 Newell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Newell — the short answer
Newell, California: USDA zone 6b, about 143 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~143
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Newell's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Newell's 143-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Newell
Each reading below is measured for Newell itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNewell runs about 143 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
MeasuredNewell 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 Newell is in
Newell sits in the Eastern Cascades Slopes and Foothills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Newell's own centroid rather than borrowed from Modoc County.
What Grows in Newell
Every plant below cleared Newell's own zone 6b and its 143-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Newell?
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 Apr 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 1 — 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 Newell
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Newell. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MODOC COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKSBrownfields · 2200 ft
- CALTRANS D2 MAINTENANCE NEWELL MSBrownfields · 2500 ft
- TUSCARORA RADAR STATIONBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- 047N005E26L001MNitrate · 0.8 mi
- MODOC COUNTY ROAD DEPARTMENT - NEWELL SHOPBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- 047N005E27R004MNitrate · 1.2 mi
- CAL TRANS NEWELL MAINT STNBrownfields · 3.4 mi
- OVER THE HORIZON BACKSCATTER RADAR DEPT OF DEFENSEBrownfields · 3.4 mi
- KLAMATHON FIREBrownfields · 6.1 mi
- SISKIYOU COUNTY- MOUNTAIN FIREBrownfields · 6.1 mi
- MODOC COUNTY/EMERG RESPONSE ONLYBrownfields · 6.2 mi
- STAUNTON FARMS SHOP, DBA STAUNTON FARMSBrownfields · 6.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Newell'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 Newell.
Total Sites
39
within ~10 miles of Newell
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Newell
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Newell
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Newell, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 19 sites within ~10 miles of Newell. 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 Newell
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 Newell average
Your land is one point inside Newell
Everything above resolves to Newell as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Newell Average
Newell Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Newell
- ●One soil character for all of Newell
- ●Frost dates read at Newell's scale: May 11 to Oct 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Newell's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Newell
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Newell, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Newell averages can't show:
We read public map data around Newell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Newell average
How we know this about Newell
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 Newell’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 Newell
When does frost risk typically end in Newell?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Newell typically lands around May 11, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Newell?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Newell typically arrives around Oct 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 17, so the watching starts about Sep 1 — about 143 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Newell?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Newell sees about 143 frost-free days — roughly May 11 through Oct 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 1 to Sep 17, about 108 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Newell?
The federal record around Newell is a meaningful one — 39 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (19), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.4 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 Newell?
With about 143 frost-free days between hard freezes, Newell 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 171 to 199 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 11 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Newell's scale — its 6b band and its 143-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Newell'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 Newell’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Newell's own scale — its own ~143-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,537 acres it covers and 39 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Newell's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Newell's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 11 and Oct 1 and the ~143-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 39 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Newell, the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Newell's boundary and the 1,537 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~143-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Newell's own centroid, the Eastern Cascades Slopes and FoothillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Newell's 1,537 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Modoc County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Modoc 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 Modoc County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Newell's 1,537 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Newell you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,537 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 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 Newell-wide figureread your own land →
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