Raft Island, Washington, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Crops well matched to these conditions include kale, potato, garlic, and western red cedar — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Raft Island, 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 Raft Island 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 Raft Island — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Raft Island — the short answer
Raft Island, Washington: USDA zone 9a, about 264 days between hard freezes, across 177 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 4
- Pierce County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 23
- Pierce County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~264
- Pierce County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 177 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 Pierce County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Raft Island's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Raft Island's 264-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Raft Island
Each reading below is measured for Raft Island itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRaft Island runs about 264 days between hard freezes (read from Pierce County, the closest normal to Raft Island) — 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
MeasuredRaft Island 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 Raft Island is in
Raft Island sits in the Puget Lowland — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Raft Island's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Pierce County is mostly Cascades. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Raft Island
Plants matched to Raft Island's USDA zones 9a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Raft Island?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 23 — 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 Raft Island
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Raft Island. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ISLAND VIEW MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- THE ROSEDALE MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- E BRUCE JOHNSON SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- KOPACHUCK STATE PARKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- GIG HARBOR CITY OFUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- 22N/01E-32P06 SU-009Nitrate · 2.4 mi
- CHARLES W SEHMEL LOGGINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- ARLETTA FOODSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- EYRISH HEMLEY LAND COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- WASHINGTON CORRECTIONS CENTER FOR WOMENUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- 14307 67TH AVE NW GIG HARBORUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- GIG HARBOR WATER DEPTPFAS · 3.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Raft Island'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 Raft Island.
Total Sites
306
within ~10 miles of Raft Island
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Raft Island
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Raft Island
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Raft Island, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Raft Island — PFAS (4 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (207 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.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Raft Island
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 Raft Island average
Your land is one point inside Raft Island
Everything above resolves to Raft Island as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 177 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Pierce 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 Raft Island Average
Raft Island Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Raft Island
- ●One soil character for all of Raft Island
- ●Frost dates read at Raft Island's scale: Mar 4 to Nov 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Raft Island's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Raft Island
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Raft Island, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Raft Island averages can't show:
We read public map data around Raft Island — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Raft Island average
How we know this about Raft Island
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 Pierce 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 Raft Island
When does frost risk typically end in Raft Island?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Raft Island typically lands around Mar 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Raft Island?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Raft Island typically arrives around Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 9, so the watching starts about Oct 24 — about 264 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Raft Island?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Raft Island sees about 264 frost-free days — roughly Mar 4 through Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 25 to Nov 9, about 229 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Raft Island?
The federal record around Raft Island is a meaningful one — 306 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (207), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Raft Island?
From about Oct 24 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 Nov 23 (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 Nov 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Raft Island's scale — its 9a band and its 264-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Raft Island'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 Raft Island’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Raft Island's own scale — the 177 acres it covers and 306 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Raft Island's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 306 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Raft Island, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Raft Island's boundary and the 177 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Raft Island sits in the Puget Lowland — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Raft Island has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Pierce County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Raft Island's 177 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pierce County
- The candidate plant list — Washington's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Washington
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pierce County
- The growing challenges every Washington grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Washington
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Pierce County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Raft Island's 177 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Raft Island you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 177 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Raft Island-wide figureread your own land →
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