Ocotillo, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Growers here do well with avocado, meyer lemon, tomato, and artichoke — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Ocotillo, 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 Ocotillo 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 Ocotillo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ocotillo — the short answer
Ocotillo, California: USDA zone 10a, about 344 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 15
- Imperial County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 25
- Imperial County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~344
- Imperial County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 6K 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 Imperial County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is Ocotillo's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ocotillo's 344-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ocotillo
Each reading below is measured for Ocotillo itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsOcotillo runs about 344 days between hard freezes (read from Imperial County, the closest normal to Ocotillo) — 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
MeasuredOcotillo 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 Ocotillo is in
Ocotillo sits in the Sonoran Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Ocotillo's own centroid rather than borrowed from Imperial County.
What Grows in Ocotillo
Plants matched to Ocotillo'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 Ocotillo?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 25 — 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 Ocotillo
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ocotillo. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- VAL-ROCK INC(NOT IN OPERATION)Brownfields · 500 ft
- 016S009E25M001SNitrate · 1100 ft
- 016S009E25M002SNitrate · 1200 ft
- 016S009E36D002SNitrate · 1300 ft
- 016S009E36D003SNitrate · 2000 ft
- 016S009E26H002SNitrate · 2500 ft
- 016S009E25K002SNitrate · 2600 ft
- 016S009E26H001SNitrate · 0.5 mi
- 016S009E36C002SNitrate · 0.5 mi
- 016S009E36C003SNitrate · 0.5 mi
- 016S009E36C001SNitrate · 0.6 mi
- 016S009E25K001SNitrate · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ocotillo'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 Ocotillo.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ocotillo
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ocotillo
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ocotillo, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Ocotillo — Nitrate (86 sites) and Mining (9 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Ocotillo
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 Ocotillo average
Your land is one point inside Ocotillo
Everything above resolves to Ocotillo as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 6K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Imperial 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 Ocotillo Average
Ocotillo Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Ocotillo
- ●One soil character for all of Ocotillo
- ●Frost dates read at Ocotillo's scale: Jan 15 to Dec 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ocotillo's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ocotillo
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ocotillo, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ocotillo averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ocotillo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ocotillo average
How we know this about Ocotillo
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 Imperial 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 Ocotillo
When does frost risk typically end in Ocotillo?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ocotillo typically lands around Jan 15, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Ocotillo?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ocotillo typically arrives around Dec 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 11, so the watching starts about Nov 25 — about 344 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ocotillo?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ocotillo sees about 344 frost-free days — roughly Jan 15 through Dec 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 5 to Dec 11, about 309 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ocotillo?
The federal record around Ocotillo shows 108 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (86), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Ocotillo?
From about Nov 25 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ocotillo's scale — its 10a band and its 344-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ocotillo'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 Ocotillo’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Ocotillo's own scale — the 5,674 acres it covers and 108 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ocotillo's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 108 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ocotillo, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ocotillo's boundary and the 5,674 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Ocotillo's own centroid, the Sonoran Basin and RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Ocotillo has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Imperial County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ocotillo's 5,674 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Imperial 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 Imperial 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 Imperial County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ocotillo's 5,674 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ocotillo you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,674 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 Ocotillo-wide figureread your own land →