University of California-Merced, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
A short list that earns its place here — artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in University of California-Merced, 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 University of California-Merced 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 University of California-Merced — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
University of California-Merced — the short answer
University of California-Merced, California: USDA zone 9a, about 318 days between hard freezes, across 417 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 21
- Merced County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 5
- Merced County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~318
- Merced County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 417 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 Merced County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is University of California-Merced's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against University of California-Merced's 318-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in University of California-Merced
Each reading below is measured for University of California-Merced itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsUniversity of California-Merced runs about 318 days between hard freezes (read from Merced County, the closest normal to University of California-Merced) — 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
MeasuredUniversity of California-Merced 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 University of California-Merced is in
University of California-Merced sits in the Central California Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at University of California-Merced's own centroid rather than borrowed from Merced County.
What Grows in University of California-Merced
Every plant below cleared University of California-Merced's own zone 9a and its 318-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in University of California-Merced?
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 Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 5 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near University of California-Merced
Closest first, within ~10 miles of University of California-Merced. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- University of California, MercedUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- MERCED COUNTY DEPT OF PUBLICWORKS PARKS & RECREATIONBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, MERCEDBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- 006S014E33N001MNitrate · 1.7 mi
- WOOLF ENTERPRISES FAHEYBrownfields · 1.7 mi
- 007S014E05A001MNitrate · 1.8 mi
- LEE JONES TRUCKINGBrownfields · 2.0 mi
- 006S014E32A001MNitrate · 2.0 mi
- 006S014E29R001MNitrate · 2.0 mi
- 006S014E32A003MNitrate · 2.0 mi
- MERCED GOLD COUNTRY CLUBBrownfields · 2.1 mi
- BRIGHTVIEW GOLF MAINT AT MERCED GOLF & COUNTRY CLUBBrownfields · 2.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from University of California-Merced'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 University of California-Merced.
Total Sites
707
within ~10 miles of University of California-Merced
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of University of California-Merced
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of University of California-Merced
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around University of California-Merced, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 508 sites within ~10 miles of University of California-Merced. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in University of California-Merced
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 University of California-Merced average
Your land is one point inside University of California-Merced
Everything above resolves to University of California-Merced as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 417 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Merced 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 University of California-Merced Average
University of California-Merced Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across University of California-Merced
- ●One soil character for all of University of California-Merced
- ●Frost dates read at University of California-Merced's scale: Jan 21 to Dec 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not University of California-Merced's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in University of California-Merced
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in University of California-Merced, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that University of California-Merced averages can't show:
We read public map data around University of California-Merced — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the University of California-Merced average
How we know this about University of California-Merced
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 Merced 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 University of California-Merced
When does frost risk typically end in University of California-Merced?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in University of California-Merced typically lands around Jan 21, 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 11.
When is the first frost in University of California-Merced?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in University of California-Merced typically arrives around Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 21, so the watching starts about Nov 5 — about 318 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in University of California-Merced?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, University of California-Merced sees about 318 frost-free days — roughly Jan 21 through Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 11 to Nov 21, about 283 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in University of California-Merced?
The federal record around University of California-Merced is a meaningful one — 707 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (508), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 University of California-Merced?
From about Nov 5 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at University of California-Merced's scale — its 9a band and its 318-day season. Your yard writes its own version of University of California-Merced'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 University of California-Merced’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at University of California-Merced's own scale — the 417 acres it covers and 707 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- University of California-Merced's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 707 documented contamination sites on the federal record near University of California-Merced, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- University of California-Merced's boundary and the 417 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~318-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at University of California-Merced's own centroid, the Central California ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — University of California-Merced has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Merced County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so University of California-Merced's 417 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Merced County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Merced 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 Merced County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among University of California-Merced's 417 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of University of California-Merced you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 417 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 University of California-Merced-wide figureread your own land →