Sattley, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Sattley, 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 Sattley 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 Sattley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Sattley — the short answer
Sattley, California: USDA zone 6b, about 154 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~154
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Sattley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Sattley's 154-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Sattley
Each reading below is measured for Sattley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSattley runs about 154 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredSattley 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 Sattley is in
Sattley sits in the Sierra Nevada — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Sattley's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sierra County.
What Grows in Sattley
Every plant below cleared Sattley's own zone 6b and its 154-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Sattley?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 9 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Sattley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Sattley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CALTRANS DISTRICT 03Brownfields · 4.7 mi
- TIM H BEALS DIRECTOR OF TRANSPORTATIONBrownfields · 4.7 mi
- Sierraville Service and Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.7 mi
- PACIFIC BELLBrownfields · 4.8 mi
- Antelope NeckMining · 5.1 mi
- ZuvarMining · 7.0 mi
- Copper MineMining · 7.1 mi
- Sierra HomestakeMining · 7.4 mi
- Hapgood & MillerMining · 7.6 mi
- Hapgood and MillerMining · 7.7 mi
- Antelope Neck MineMining · 7.7 mi
- WHITEHAWK RANCHBrownfields · 7.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Sattley'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 Sattley.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Sattley
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Sattley, Mining runs higher than the national average — 14 sites within ~10 miles of Sattley. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Sattley
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 Sattley average
Your land is one point inside Sattley
Everything above resolves to Sattley as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Sattley Average
Sattley Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Sattley
- ●One soil character for all of Sattley
- ●Frost dates read at Sattley's scale: May 8 to Oct 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Sattley's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Sattley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Sattley, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Sattley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Sattley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Sattley average
How we know this about Sattley
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 Sattley’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 Sattley
When does frost risk typically end in Sattley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Sattley typically lands around May 8, 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 May 29.
When is the first frost in Sattley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Sattley typically arrives around Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 25, so the watching starts about Sep 9 — about 154 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Sattley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Sattley sees about 154 frost-free days — roughly May 8 through Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 29 to Sep 25, about 119 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Sattley?
The federal record around Sattley is light — 25 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Mining entries (14), the nearest Brownfields record about 4.7 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 Sattley?
From about Sep 9 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 Oct 9 (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 Oct 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Sattley's scale — its 6b band and its 154-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Sattley'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 Sattley’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Sattley's own scale — its own ~154-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,310 acres it covers and 25 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Sattley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Sattley's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 8 and Oct 9 and the ~154-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 25 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Sattley, the closest Brownfields record about 4.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Sattley's boundary and the 1,310 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~154-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Sattley's own centroid, the Sierra NevadaUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Sattley's 1,310 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sierra County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sierra 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 Sierra County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Sattley's 1,310 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Sattley you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,310 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 4.7 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 Sattley-wide figureread your own land →
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