Tahoma, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Tahoma, 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 Tahoma 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 Tahoma — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Tahoma — the short answer
Tahoma, California: USDA zone 7a, about 130 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~130
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 7a is Tahoma's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Tahoma's 130-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Tahoma
Each reading below is measured for Tahoma itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredTahoma runs about 130 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredTahoma sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Tahoma is in
Tahoma sits in the Sierra Nevada — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Tahoma's own centroid rather than borrowed from El Dorado County.
What Grows in Tahoma
Every plant below cleared Tahoma's own zone 7a and its 130-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Tahoma?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 2 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Tahoma
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Tahoma. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 090 N14 E17 18AADB1 Cedar WellNitrate · 0.6 mi
- ERIC WEEBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- 090 N14 E17 18BBCA1Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- JM CONCRETE PUMPINGBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- 014N017E18D001MNitrate · 0.7 mi
- MEEKS BAY MARINABrownfields · 0.9 mi
- EL DORADO COUNTY / ENVIRON MNGMNTBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- CA STATE PARK-SUGAR PINE PTBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- Tahoe Treasure ProspectMining · 1.4 mi
- JONES CORDA CONSTRUCTION INCBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- CHINKAPIN LODGE / MARTEL CONSTRUCTIONBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- 014N017E20K001MNitrate · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Tahoma'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 Tahoma.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Tahoma
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Tahoma
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Tahoma, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Tahoma — Nitrate (44 sites) and Brownfields (69 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in Tahoma
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 Tahoma average
Your land is one point inside Tahoma
Everything above resolves to Tahoma as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Tahoma Average
Tahoma Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Tahoma
- ●One soil character for all of Tahoma
- ●Frost dates read at Tahoma's scale: May 25 to Oct 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Tahoma's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Tahoma
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Tahoma, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Tahoma averages can't show:
We read public map data around Tahoma — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Tahoma average
How we know this about Tahoma
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 Tahoma’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 Tahoma
When does frost risk typically end in Tahoma?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Tahoma typically lands around May 25, 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 Jun 15.
When is the first frost in Tahoma?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Tahoma typically arrives around Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 18, so the watching starts about Sep 2 — about 130 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Tahoma?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Tahoma sees about 130 frost-free days — roughly May 25 through Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 15 to Sep 18, about 95 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Tahoma?
The federal record around Tahoma shows 120 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (69), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.6 miles 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 gardeners stretch the season in Tahoma?
With about 130 frost-free days between hard freezes, Tahoma rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 158 to 186 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 25 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Tahoma's scale — its 7a band and its 130-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Tahoma'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 Tahoma’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Tahoma's own scale — its own ~130-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,660 acres it covers and 120 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Tahoma's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Tahoma's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 25 and Oct 2 and the ~130-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 120 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Tahoma, the closest Nitrate record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Tahoma's boundary and the 1,660 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~130-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Tahoma's own centroid, the Sierra NevadaUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Tahoma's 1,660 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom El Dorado County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom El Dorado 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 El Dorado County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Tahoma's 1,660 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Tahoma you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,660 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.6 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 Tahoma-wide figureread your own land →