Wilkerson, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Wilkerson, 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 Wilkerson 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 Wilkerson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wilkerson — the short answer
Wilkerson, California: USDA zone 8a, about 203 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~203
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 4K 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 8a is Wilkerson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wilkerson's 203-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wilkerson
Each reading below is measured for Wilkerson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWilkerson runs about 203 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredWilkerson sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Wilkerson is in
Wilkerson sits in the Central Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Wilkerson's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Inyo County is mostly Mojave Basin and Range. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Wilkerson
Every plant below cleared Wilkerson's own zone 8a and its 203-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wilkerson?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 28 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
What's on the federal record near Wilkerson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wilkerson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Bishop Concentrate and Cleaning Co.Mining · 2600 ft
- 008S033E06H001MNitrate · 0.6 mi
- Bishop Antimony MineMining · 3.4 mi
- LOS ANGELES DEPT. OF WATER & POWERBrownfields · 3.8 mi
- COUNTY OF INYOBrownfields · 3.9 mi
- BROWNS SUPPLY INCBrownfields · 3.9 mi
- MADERA DISPOSAL SYSTEM INC BISHOP WASTE DISPOSALBrownfields · 4.1 mi
- BISHOP COUNTRY CLUBBrownfields · 4.4 mi
- INYO COUNTY ROAD DEPTBrownfields · 5.3 mi
- DOUGS RV STORAGE LLCBrownfields · 5.3 mi
- CHEVRON STATION 98853Brownfields · 5.4 mi
- CALTRANS/ SHOP 09Brownfields · 5.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wilkerson'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 Wilkerson.
Total Sites
149
within ~10 miles of Wilkerson
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wilkerson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wilkerson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Wilkerson, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Wilkerson — Mining (21 sites) and Brownfields (84 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in Wilkerson
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 Wilkerson average
Your land is one point inside Wilkerson
Everything above resolves to Wilkerson as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 4K 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 Wilkerson Average
Wilkerson Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Wilkerson
- ●One soil character for all of Wilkerson
- ●Frost dates read at Wilkerson's scale: Apr 8 to Oct 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wilkerson's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wilkerson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wilkerson, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wilkerson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wilkerson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wilkerson average
How we know this about Wilkerson
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 Wilkerson’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 Wilkerson
When does frost risk typically end in Wilkerson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wilkerson typically lands around Apr 8, 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 Apr 29.
When is the first frost in Wilkerson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wilkerson typically arrives around Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 14, so the watching starts about Sep 28 — about 203 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wilkerson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wilkerson sees about 203 frost-free days — roughly Apr 8 through Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 29 to Oct 14, about 168 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wilkerson?
The federal record around Wilkerson is a meaningful one — 149 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (84), the nearest Mining 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 Wilkerson?
From about Sep 28 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Wilkerson's scale — its 8a band and its 203-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wilkerson'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 Wilkerson’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wilkerson's own scale — its own ~203-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,665 acres it covers and 149 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wilkerson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wilkerson's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 8 and Oct 28 and the ~203-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 149 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wilkerson, the closest Mining record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wilkerson's boundary and the 3,665 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~203-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Wilkerson 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 Wilkerson's 3,665 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Inyo County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Inyo 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 Inyo County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wilkerson's 3,665 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wilkerson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,665 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Mining 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 Wilkerson-wide figureread your own land →
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