Soda Bay, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Soda Bay, 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 Soda Bay 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 Soda Bay — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Soda Bay — the short answer
Soda Bay, California: USDA zone 9a, about 288 days between hard freezes, across 822 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 26
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 11
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~288
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 822 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 Lake County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Soda Bay's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Soda Bay's 288-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Soda Bay
Each reading below is measured for Soda Bay itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSoda Bay runs about 288 days between hard freezes (read from Lake County, the closest normal to Soda Bay) — 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
MeasuredSoda Bay sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Soda Bay is in
Soda Bay sits in the Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Soda Bay's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lake County.
What Grows in Soda Bay
Every plant below cleared Soda Bay's own zone 9a and its 288-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Soda Bay?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 11 — 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 Soda Bay
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Soda Bay. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BUCKINGHAM GOLF & COUNTRY CLUBBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- AT&T MOBILITYBrownfields · 2.0 mi
- CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS CLEAR LAKE SPBrownfields · 2.1 mi
- Konocti Mine BellMining · 3.1 mi
- WINECO INC DBA WILDHURST VINEYARDSBrownfields · 3.3 mi
- J & S AUTOBrownfields · 3.3 mi
- LucittaMining · 3.4 mi
- MT KONOCTI GAS MARTBrownfields · 3.4 mi
- MT KONOCTI GAS & MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- Faizan TWO JACKSUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- TWO JACKSBrownfields · 3.4 mi
- HOLDENRIED HARVESTING INCBrownfields · 3.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Soda Bay'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 Soda Bay.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Soda Bay
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Soda Bay
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Soda Bay, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Soda Bay — PFAS (7 sites) and Mining (29 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Soda Bay
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 Soda Bay average
Your land is one point inside Soda Bay
Everything above resolves to Soda Bay as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 822 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lake 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 Soda Bay Average
Soda Bay Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Soda Bay
- ●One soil character for all of Soda Bay
- ●Frost dates read at Soda Bay's scale: Feb 26 to Dec 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Soda Bay's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Soda Bay
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Soda Bay, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Soda Bay averages can't show:
We read public map data around Soda Bay — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Soda Bay average
How we know this about Soda Bay
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 Lake 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 Soda Bay
When does frost risk typically end in Soda Bay?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Soda Bay typically lands around Feb 26, 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 Mar 19.
When is the first frost in Soda Bay?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Soda Bay typically arrives around Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 27, so the watching starts about Nov 11 — about 288 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Soda Bay?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Soda Bay sees about 288 frost-free days — roughly Feb 26 through Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 19 to Nov 27, about 253 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Soda Bay?
The federal record around Soda Bay runs heavier than most — 304 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (224), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.4 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Soda Bay?
From about Nov 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Soda Bay's scale — its 9a band and its 288-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Soda Bay'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 Soda Bay’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Soda Bay's own scale — the 822 acres it covers and 304 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Soda Bay's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 304 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Soda Bay, the closest Brownfields record about 1.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Soda Bay's boundary and the 822 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~288-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Soda Bay's own centroid, the Central California Foothills and Coastal MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Soda Bay has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lake County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Soda Bay's 822 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lake County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lake 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 Lake County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Soda Bay's 822 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Soda Bay you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 822 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 1.4 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 Soda Bay-wide figureread your own land →
More in California
Wider growing context
What grows across CaliforniaSoda Bay sits outside our named growing regions, so California as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides