Place guide
Planting zones in Modesto, CA
Every ZIP code in this metro is USDA zone 9b. That is unusual — most metros span several zones — and it means the one number people usually look up is the same wherever you are here.
Your ZIP code
Get the exact answer for your address
Everything above describes Modesto, CA as a whole. Hardiness zones and freeze dates are published per ZIP code, so yours is exact — enter it and this page will tell you your zone, which NOAA station it comes from and how far away that station is.
What you can sow in Modesto, CA now
4 of 32 crops that every one of the 5 NOAA stations serving this metro area agrees still has time to mature — with a week in hand, so this holds until the page is next rebuilt.
- 🧅 Green Onions 55d
- 🥬 Swiss Chard 55d
- 🥬 Kale 60d
- 🥬 Collards 60d
Counted against a first fall freeze of November 26 – December 20 across 5 of those stations, NOAA 1991–2020 normals.
A further 9 crops depend on where in Modesto, CA you are — its stations disagree about them. The ZIP lookup above settles it for one address.
All 5 stations agreeAt least one station
Every one of the 5 NOAA stations serving this metro area counts February 26 – November 26 as growing season (273 days). Widening to any single station gives January 6 – December 20 (348 days).
That is a 75-day difference inside one metro area — which is why this page gives ranges rather than a single planting date. The ZIP lookup above resolves it to one station.
Your freeze dates
Those are the earliest and latest medians among the 5 stations serving this metro — not an average, and not one station standing in for the rest. Half of years freeze later than a station's own median.
The spread is the point. Even in a metro that is one hardiness zone throughout, its stations disagree about the last spring freeze. Hardiness zone and frost date measure different things — a zone is the average annual coldest night, a freeze date is when the season turns — and a place can be uniform in one and varied in the other. Use the tools below with your own ZIP rather than the ends of this range.
Your growing season
NOAA publishes a growing-season length for each station, and across the 5 stations serving Modesto, CA it runs 272–351 days . That figure is published, not computed from the two freeze dates — subtracting one from the other gives the wrong answer wherever a season crosses New Year. Mean summer high (June–August) runs 91–98 °F , at or above the 90 °F point where cool-season crops bolt and tomato and pepper pollen fails — so midsummer sowings of lettuce and its relatives are worth holding here. Summer rain over the same months runs 0.1–0.4" across those 5 stations, against the rough inch a week — about 13 inches over the same 92 days — that a vegetable garden is usually reckoned to want. The middle station covers about 1% of it, so a summer garden here is watered rather than rained on. The inches are NOAA's published normals; the inch a week is a rule of thumb, and it takes no account of a 92 °F summer afternoon drying the soil faster than a cool one.
When to start seeds in Modesto, CA
Every spring job for 63 crop dates, counted from this metro's own last spring freeze. Each is a range across all 5 stations — the earliest and latest that job falls anywhere in the metro — because no one station speaks for the whole area.
| Crop | Job | When | Offset |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cabbage | Set out | January 1 – December 16 | 3 weeks before |
| Carrots | Direct sow | January 1 – December 16 | 3 weeks before |
| Collards | Direct sow | January 1 – December 16 | 3 weeks before |
| Collards | Set out | January 1 – December 16 | 3 weeks before |
| Cucumbers | Start indoors | January 1 – December 16 | 3 weeks before |
| Green Onions | Set out | January 1 – December 16 | 3 weeks before |
| Green Onions | Start indoors | January 1 – December 31 | 8 weeks before |
| Kale | Direct sow | January 1 – December 16 | 3 weeks before |
| Kale | Set out | January 1 – December 16 | 3 weeks before |
| Kohlrabi | Direct sow | January 1 – December 16 | 3 weeks before |
| Kohlrabi | Set out | January 1 – December 16 | 3 weeks before |
| Leaf Lettuce | Direct sow | January 1 – December 16 | 3 weeks before |
| Peppers | Start indoors | January 1 – December 31 | 8 weeks before |
| Pumpkins | Start indoors | January 1 – December 16 | 3 weeks before |
| Summer Squash | Start indoors | January 1 – December 16 | 3 weeks before |
| Winter Squash | Start indoors | January 1 – December 16 | 3 weeks before |
| Zucchini | Start indoors | January 1 – December 16 | 3 weeks before |
| Arugula | Direct sow | January 3 – December 25 | 4 weeks before |
| Baby Salad Greens | Direct sow | January 3 – December 25 | 4 weeks before |
| Beets | Direct sow | January 3 – December 25 | 4 weeks before |
| Green Onions | Direct sow | January 3 – December 25 | 4 weeks before |
| Mustard Greens | Direct sow | January 3 – December 25 | 4 weeks before |
| Okra | Start indoors | January 3 – December 25 | 4 weeks before |
| Radishes | Direct sow | January 3 – December 25 | 4 weeks before |
| Turnips | Direct sow | January 3 – December 25 | 4 weeks before |
| Bok Choy | Direct sow | January 8 – December 23 | 2 weeks before |
| Bok Choy | Set out | January 8 – December 23 | 2 weeks before |
| Broccoli | Set out | January 8 – December 23 | 2 weeks before |
| Cilantro | Direct sow | January 8 – December 23 | 2 weeks before |
| Leaf Lettuce | Set out | January 8 – December 23 | 2 weeks before |
| Swiss Chard | Direct sow | January 8 – December 23 | 2 weeks before |
| Swiss Chard | Set out | January 8 – December 23 | 2 weeks before |
| Bush Beans | Direct sow | January 13 – March 5 | 1 week after |
| Cucumbers | Set out | January 13 – March 5 | 1 week after |
| Pumpkins | Direct sow | January 13 – March 5 | 1 week after |
| Pumpkins | Set out | January 13 – March 5 | 1 week after |
| Summer Squash | Direct sow | January 13 – March 5 | 1 week after |
| Summer Squash | Set out | January 13 – March 5 | 1 week after |
| Sweet Corn | Direct sow | January 13 – March 5 | 1 week after |
| Tomatoes | Set out | January 13 – March 5 | 1 week after |
| Winter Squash | Direct sow | January 13 – March 5 | 1 week after |
| Winter Squash | Set out | January 13 – March 5 | 1 week after |
| Zucchini | Direct sow | January 13 – March 5 | 1 week after |
| Zucchini | Set out | January 13 – March 5 | 1 week after |
| Broccoli | Start indoors | January 14 – December 20 | 6 weeks before |
| Cabbage | Start indoors | January 14 – December 20 | 6 weeks before |
| Collards | Start indoors | January 14 – December 20 | 6 weeks before |
| Kale | Start indoors | January 14 – December 20 | 6 weeks before |
| Leaf Lettuce | Start indoors | January 14 – December 20 | 6 weeks before |
| Peas | Direct sow | January 14 – December 20 | 6 weeks before |
| Spinach | Direct sow | January 14 – December 20 | 6 weeks before |
| Sweet Potato | Start indoors | January 14 – December 20 | 6 weeks before |
| Tomatoes | Start indoors | January 14 – December 20 | 6 weeks before |
| Dill | Direct sow | January 15 – December 30 | 1 week before |
| Cucumbers | Direct sow | January 20 – March 12 | 2 weeks after |
| Okra | Direct sow | January 20 – March 12 | 2 weeks after |
| Okra | Set out | January 20 – March 12 | 2 weeks after |
| Peppers | Set out | January 20 – March 12 | 2 weeks after |
| Southern Peas | Direct sow | January 20 – March 12 | 2 weeks after |
| Sweet Potato | Set out | January 20 – March 12 | 2 weeks after |
| Bok Choy | Start indoors | January 21 – December 27 | 5 weeks before |
| Kohlrabi | Start indoors | January 21 – December 27 | 5 weeks before |
| Swiss Chard | Start indoors | January 21 – December 27 | 5 weeks before |
The week offsets are conventional extension guidance and vary by variety; the freeze dates they are counted from are measured. For a single date rather than a range, run when do I start my seeds? with your own ZIP code.
What lives through a zone 9b winter
Winter hardiness runs on the zone alone, so this one is exact for the whole of Modesto, CA rather than a range. Of 74 perennial fruits, nuts, berries, vegetables and herbs, 40 come through a zone 9b winter — and 32 of the failures are not about cold at all, but about winters too mild to break dormancy or summers too hot.
Among them: Elderberry, Horseradish, Sunchoke, Walking Onion, Chives, Mint, American Persimmon, French Sorrel. See the full list with reasons.
At least one station here freezes across the new year, which puts the two ends of a spread on opposite sides of the calendar. Drawing it would produce a bar spanning almost the whole year and meaning nothing, so none is drawn.
The 5 stations behind these numbers
All 5 NOAA stations whose normals this page quotes, spanning about 107 km north to south. Every one is named with its identifier in the station list below — this page does not single one out, because no one station speaks for a whole metro area.
A relative sketch, not a map with a projection: longitude is adjusted for latitude so the shape is not stretched, and there is no basemap. For the one station nearest a specific address, with its real distance, use the ZIP lookup above.
Every figure above comes from these, and each is named so you can check it. Which station serves a given ZIP code, and how far away it is, varies across the metro — the table below gives it per ZIP code rather than this page averaging it.
| Station | NOAA ID | Last spring freeze | First fall freeze | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camp Pardee, CA | USC00041428 | January 22 | December 17 | 332 days |
| Modesto City Co AP, CA | USW00023258 | January 31 | December 5 | 312 days |
| Newman, CA | USC00046168 | February 26 | November 29 | 273 days |
| Tracy Carbona, CA | USC00048999 | February 25 | November 26 | 272 days |
| Turlock #2, CA | USC00049073 | January 6 | December 20 | 351 days |
These are medians, not averages — NOAA publishes freeze dates as a probability distribution, and half of years freeze later than the date shown.
Every ZIP code in Modesto, CA
Zones are published per ZIP code, not per metro area, so this is the exact answer rather than the metro area's average. The station column is the nearest one to that ZIP code's centroid and how far away it is — the same figure the tools use, shown here so you can see which ZIP codes are well covered and which are reaching.
| ZIP code | USDA zone | Nearest NOAA station | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 95230 | 9b | Camp Pardee, CA | 28.3 km |
| 95307 | 9b | Modesto City Co AP, CA | 7.6 km |
| 95313 | 9b | Newman, CA | 15.5 km |
| 95316 | 9b | Turlock #2, CA | 16.2 km |
| 95319 | 9b | Modesto City Co AP, CA | 5.8 km |
| 95323 | 9b | Turlock #2, CA | 18.3 km |
| 95326 | 9b | Modesto City Co AP, CA | 9.2 km |
| 95328 | 9b | Modesto City Co AP, CA | 8.2 km |
| 95350 | 9b | Modesto City Co AP, CA | 7.3 km |
| 95351 | 9b | Modesto City Co AP, CA | 4.1 km |
| 95354 | 9b | Modesto City Co AP, CA | 2.1 km |
| 95355 | 9b | Modesto City Co AP, CA | 5.4 km |
| 95356 | 9b | Modesto City Co AP, CA | 12.7 km |
| 95357 | 9b | Modesto City Co AP, CA | 7.7 km |
| 95358 | 9b | Modesto City Co AP, CA | 13.9 km |
| 95360 | 9b | Newman, CA | 5.3 km |
| 95361 | 9b | Modesto City Co AP, CA | 23.7 km |
| 95363 | 9b | Newman, CA | 23.1 km |
| 95367 | 9b | Modesto City Co AP, CA | 11.7 km |
| 95368 | 9b | Modesto City Co AP, CA | 15.5 km |
| 95380 | 9b | Turlock #2, CA | 4.0 km |
| 95382 | 9b | Turlock #2, CA | 2.9 km |
| 95385 | 9b | Tracy Carbona, CA | 11.8 km |
| 95386 | 9b | Turlock #2, CA | 26.9 km |
| 95387 | 9b | Tracy Carbona, CA | 16.8 km |
ZIP-code positions are area centroids, so a large rural ZIP code's listed distance is measured from the middle of its area rather than from any particular address in it.
Your own ZIP
Work out your own dates
Each of these takes a ZIP code and answers for that ZIP alone, citing the station it used and how far away it is. There is a ZIP box in the header of every page.
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What survives my winter?
Runs on the hardiness zone, so it answers for all of Modesto, CA at once — zone 9b across 74 perennial fruits, berries, vegetables and herbs.
- When do I start my seeds?
Dates every spring job from your own last freeze — sow indoors, set out, direct sow.
- When do I sow the next round?
How often each crop is worth re-sowing, and when the next sowing is due.
- What can I still plant?
Counts the growing days left before your first fall freeze, crop by crop.
Other places to compare
These metros are also entirely zone 9b, so the winter answer here is the same one they get — the freeze dates and the spring calendar are their own.
Gardening in California — zones 5b– 11a covers the whole state: how its 1,788 ZIP codes divide between 12 hardiness zones, and the freeze dates across every NOAA station in it.
Other metro areas in CA:
- Redding, CA Zones 7a, 7b, 8b, 9a, 9b
- Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA Zones 9a–10b
- San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA Zones 8b–10a
- Yuba City, CA Zones 9a–9b
- Chico, CA Zones 8b–9b
- Merced, CA Zones 9a–9b
- Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA Zones 9a–10a
- El Centro, CA Zones 9b–10a
- Vallejo, CA Zone 9b
- Napa, CA Zones 9a–9b
- Hanford-Corcoran, CA Zones 9a–9b
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Zones 7b–11a
Gear
If you want to act on this
Each link opens an Amazon search rather than a product we picked. We have not tested these and do not rank them — the search is the honest version, and you choose.
- Shade clothSummer highs here average 92 °F, at or above the 90 °F point where lettuce and spinach bolt and tomato pollen fails.
- Row cover and frost clothThe season here closes at the first fall freeze dated above — a cover buys back some of those days at the end.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. That costs you nothing extra, and it buys no influence over anything on this site: the dates come from NOAA normals and the zones from the USDA, and no product affects either.
Sources
Where these numbers come from
The hardiness zone is the USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, published per ZIP code by PRISM at Oregon State. The freeze dates are NOAA's 1991–2020 Climate Normals, read from every station whose normals cover a ZIP code in this metro. Nothing here is estimated, and no station stands in for another.
This page names no single station on purpose. Picking one to represent a metro sounds reasonable and is not: the station serving the most ZIP codes is an artifact of where ZIP centroids happen to fall, and it selects a lock on the Monongahela for Pittsburgh and a far southern suburb for Chicago. A range across every station is true; a single cited date for a whole metro is not.