Tupman, 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.
These conditions suit okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Tupman, 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 Tupman 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 Tupman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Tupman — the short answer
Tupman, California: USDA zone 9b, about 319 days between hard freezes, across 338 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 23
- Kern County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 8
- Kern County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~319
- Kern County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 338 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 Kern County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Tupman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Tupman's 319-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Tupman
Each reading below is measured for Tupman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsTupman runs about 319 days between hard freezes (read from Kern County, the closest normal to Tupman) — 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
MeasuredTupman 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 Tupman is in
Tupman sits in the Central California Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Tupman's own centroid rather than borrowed from Kern County.
What Grows in Tupman
Every plant below cleared Tupman's own zone 9b and its 319-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Tupman?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 8 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Tupman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Tupman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CHEVRON PIPE LINE COMPANYBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- 030S024E14M001MNitrate · 1.7 mi
- CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS TULE ELK SNRBrownfields · 2.4 mi
- TRANSCO LOGISTICS LLCBrownfields · 2.4 mi
- 030S025E29B001MNitrate · 2.5 mi
- NORTH COLES LEVEE GAS PLANTBrownfields · 2.9 mi
- 030S025E21N002MNitrate · 3.2 mi
- WEST KERN WATER DISTRICTPFAS · 3.2 mi
- 030S025E21L001MNitrate · 3.2 mi
- 030S025E21P001MNitrate · 3.2 mi
- NAVAL PETROLEUM RESERVE #1Brownfields · 3.3 mi
- NAVAL PETROLEUM RESERVE #1Toxics Release Inventory · 3.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Tupman'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 Tupman.
Total Sites
228
within ~10 miles of Tupman
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Tupman
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Tupman
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Tupman, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Tupman — PFAS (5 sites) and Nitrate (74 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.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Tupman
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 Tupman average
Your land is one point inside Tupman
Everything above resolves to Tupman as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 338 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Kern 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 Tupman Average
Tupman Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Tupman
- ●One soil character for all of Tupman
- ●Frost dates read at Tupman's scale: Jan 23 to Dec 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Tupman's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Tupman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Tupman, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Tupman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Tupman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Tupman average
How we know this about Tupman
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 Kern 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 Tupman
When does frost risk typically end in Tupman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Tupman typically lands around Jan 23, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Tupman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Tupman typically arrives around Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 24, so the watching starts about Nov 8 — about 319 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Tupman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Tupman sees about 319 frost-free days — roughly Jan 23 through Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 13 to Nov 24, about 284 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Tupman?
The federal record around Tupman is a meaningful one — 228 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (127), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.0 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 Tupman?
From about Nov 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 Dec 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 Dec 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Tupman's scale — its 9b band and its 319-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Tupman'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 Tupman’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Tupman's own scale — the 338 acres it covers and 228 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Tupman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 228 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Tupman, the closest Brownfields record about 1.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Tupman's boundary and the 338 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~319-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Tupman's own centroid, the Central California ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Tupman has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Kern County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Tupman's 338 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Kern County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Kern 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 Kern County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Tupman's 338 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Tupman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 338 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 1.0 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 Tupman-wide figureread your own land →