Gould, Arkansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Gould, 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 Gould 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 Gould — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Gould — the short answer
Gould, Arkansas: USDA zone 8b, about 284 days between hard freezes, across 993 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 21
- Lincoln County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Lincoln County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~284
- Lincoln County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 993 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 Lincoln County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Gould's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gould's 284-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Gould
Each reading below is measured for Gould itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsGould runs about 284 days between hard freezes (read from Lincoln County, the closest normal to Gould) — 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
MeasuredGould sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 Gould is in
Gould sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Gould's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lincoln County.
What Grows in Gould
Every plant below cleared Gould's own zone 8b and its 284-day season. Each card opens that plant's Arkansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Gould?
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 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 2 — 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 Gould
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Gould. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- STAR & JOSLYNUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- GOULD SCHOOL DISTRICTUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- THE FILLING STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- KING SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- FETCH-N-GOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- MILLS TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- 08S05W35ADC2Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- 08S05W34CAC1Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- STERICYCLE AT LINCOLN COUNTYBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- 09S04W06BBC1Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- JIFFY JOE #1Underground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- RACY BROTHERS TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Gould'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 Gould.
Total Sites
225
within ~10 miles of Gould
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
7 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Gould
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Gould
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Gould, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 152 sites within ~10 miles of Gould. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Gould
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 Gould average
Your land is one point inside Gould
Everything above resolves to Gould as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 993 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lincoln County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 city 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 Gould Average
Gould Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Gould
- ●One soil character for all of Gould
- ●Frost dates read at Gould's scale: Feb 21 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gould's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Gould
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gould, Arkansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gould averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gould — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gould average
How we know this about Gould
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Lincoln 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Gould
When does frost risk typically end in Gould?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gould typically lands around Feb 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 Mar 14.
When is the first frost in Gould?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Gould typically arrives around Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 18, so the watching starts about Nov 2 — about 284 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Gould?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gould sees about 284 frost-free days — roughly Feb 21 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 14 to Nov 18, about 249 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Gould?
The federal record around Gould is a meaningful one — 225 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (152), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Gould?
From about Nov 2 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Gould's scale — its 8b band and its 284-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gould'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 Gould’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Gould's own scale — the 993 acres it covers and 225 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gould's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 225 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Gould, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Gould's boundary and the 993 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~284-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Gould's own centroid, the Mississippi Alluvial PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Gould has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lincoln County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Gould's 993 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lincoln County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lincoln County
- The growing challenges every Arkansas grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Arkansas
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Lincoln County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Gould's 993 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Gould you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 993 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Gould-wide figureread your own land →
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