Rackerby, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Growers here do well with okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Rackerby, 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 Rackerby 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 Rackerby — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Rackerby — the short answer
Rackerby, California: USDA zone 9b, about 332 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 19
- Butte County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 17
- Butte County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~332
- Butte County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Butte County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Rackerby's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rackerby's 332-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Rackerby
Each reading below is measured for Rackerby itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRackerby runs about 332 days between hard freezes (read from Butte County, the closest normal to Rackerby) — 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
MeasuredRackerby 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 Rackerby is in
Rackerby sits in the Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Rackerby's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Butte County is mostly Central California Valley. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Rackerby
Every plant below cleared Rackerby's own zone 9b and its 332-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Rackerby?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 17 — 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 Rackerby
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Rackerby. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MARTIN WARREN VEHICLE 1FTNX21F9XEE21616Brownfields · 3.3 mi
- NEW CINGULAR WIRELESS PCS LLCBrownfields · 3.6 mi
- BOB SOPER EQUIPMENT REPAIRBrownfields · 3.6 mi
- PACIFIC BELLBrownfields · 3.8 mi
- ESCHEMAN CONSTRUCTIONBrownfields · 4.2 mi
- Gold Eagle Market #1Underground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- GOLD EAGLE MARKET #1Brownfields · 4.4 mi
- 018N005E28E002MNitrate · 4.6 mi
- Phoenix MineMining · 4.6 mi
- CAL-WATER SERVICE CO.-OROVILLEPFAS · 4.7 mi
- SFWP-MINERS RANCHPFAS · 4.7 mi
- SUTTER MEDICAL FOUNDATION DBA SUTTER NORTH MEDICAL FOUNDATIONBrownfields · 4.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Rackerby'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 Rackerby.
Total Sites
116
within ~10 miles of Rackerby
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Rackerby
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Rackerby
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Rackerby, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Rackerby — PFAS (4 sites) and Mining (14 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
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 irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Rackerby
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 Rackerby average
Your land is one point inside Rackerby
Everything above resolves to Rackerby as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Butte 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 Rackerby Average
Rackerby Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Rackerby
- ●One soil character for all of Rackerby
- ●Frost dates read at Rackerby's scale: Jan 19 to Dec 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Rackerby's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Rackerby
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rackerby, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Rackerby averages can't show:
We read public map data around Rackerby — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rackerby average
How we know this about Rackerby
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 Butte 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 Rackerby
When does frost risk typically end in Rackerby?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rackerby typically lands around Jan 19, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Rackerby?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Rackerby typically arrives around Dec 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 3, so the watching starts about Nov 17 — about 332 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Rackerby?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rackerby sees about 332 frost-free days — roughly Jan 19 through Dec 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 9 to Dec 3, about 297 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rackerby?
The federal record around Rackerby is a meaningful one — 116 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (50), the nearest Brownfields record about 3.3 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 Rackerby?
From about Nov 17 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Rackerby's scale — its 9b band and its 332-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rackerby'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 Rackerby’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Rackerby's own scale — the 1,891 acres it covers and 116 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Rackerby's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 116 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Rackerby, the closest Brownfields record about 3.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Rackerby's boundary and the 1,891 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~332-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Rackerby sits in the Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Rackerby has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Butte County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Rackerby's 1,891 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Butte County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Butte 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 Butte County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Rackerby's 1,891 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Rackerby you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,891 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 3.3 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 Rackerby-wide figureread your own land →