Sierraville, 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.
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 Sierraville, 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 Sierraville 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 Sierraville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Sierraville — the short answer
Sierraville, California: USDA zone 6b, about 151 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~151
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Sierraville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Sierraville's 151-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Sierraville
Each reading below is measured for Sierraville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSierraville runs about 151 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
MeasuredSierraville 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 Sierraville is in
Sierraville sits in the Central Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Sierraville's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Sierra County is mostly Sierra Nevada. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Sierraville
Every plant below cleared Sierraville's own zone 6b and its 151-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Sierraville?
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 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 8 — 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 Sierraville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Sierraville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PACIFIC BELLBrownfields · 2000 ft
- Sierraville Service and Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- TIM H BEALS DIRECTOR OF TRANSPORTATIONBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- CALTRANS DISTRICT 03Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- Antelope NeckMining · 4.3 mi
- Antelope Neck MineMining · 5.5 mi
- LOYALTON TRANSFER STATIONBrownfields · 7.5 mi
- FMR SMITHNECK COUNTRY STOREBrownfields · 8.9 mi
- SIERRA PACIFIC INDUSTRIESBrownfields · 9.0 mi
- SIERRA PACIFIC INDUSTRIESToxics Release Inventory · 9.0 mi
- ARP LOYALTON COGEN LLCBrownfields · 9.0 mi
- WHITE'S SIERRA STATION INCBrownfields · 9.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Sierraville'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 Sierraville.
Total Sites
22
within ~10 miles of Sierraville
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Sierraville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Sierraville
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Sierraville
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 Sierraville average
Your land is one point inside Sierraville
Everything above resolves to Sierraville as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Sierraville Average
Sierraville Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Sierraville
- ●One soil character for all of Sierraville
- ●Frost dates read at Sierraville's scale: May 10 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Sierraville's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Sierraville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Sierraville, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Sierraville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Sierraville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Sierraville average
How we know this about Sierraville
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 Sierraville’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 Sierraville
When does frost risk typically end in Sierraville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Sierraville typically lands around May 10, 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 31.
When is the first frost in Sierraville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Sierraville typically arrives around Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 24, so the watching starts about Sep 8 — about 151 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Sierraville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Sierraville sees about 151 frost-free days — roughly May 10 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 31 to Sep 24, about 116 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Sierraville?
The federal record around Sierraville is light — 22 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Brownfields entries (15), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.4 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 Sierraville?
From about Sep 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Sierraville's scale — its 6b band and its 151-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Sierraville'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 Sierraville’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Sierraville's own scale — its own ~151-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,213 acres it covers and 22 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Sierraville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Sierraville's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 10 and Oct 8 and the ~151-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 22 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Sierraville, the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Sierraville's boundary and the 3,213 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~151-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Sierraville sits in the Central Basin and Range — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Sierraville's 3,213 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 Sierraville's 3,213 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Sierraville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,213 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 Sierraville-wide figureread your own land →
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