Kit Carson County, in Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Kit Carson County lies within the High Plains — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Kit Carson County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Kit Carson County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Kit Carson County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Kit Carson County — the short answer
Kit Carson County, Colorado: USDA zone 6a, about 179 days between hard freezes, across 1.4M acres.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~179
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 1.4M acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 6a is Kit Carson County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Kit Carson County's 179-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Kit Carson County
Across a year, Kit Carson County accumulates about 2,734 growing degree days above 50°F, about 902 more than the middle Colorado county — ahead of 52 of Colorado’s 64 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Kit Carson County
Across Kit Carson County, the ground is predominantly Mollisols, where Norka, Colby, and Wages are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 7.2–7.4, neutral. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B soils.
Soil order
Mollisols
Drainage
Well drained
Hydric soils
1%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Kit Carson County
The USDA soil survey maps 96% of Kit Carson County as well drained — but another 4% drains differently: 3% excessively drained, 1% poorly drained.
Norka is the most extensive named soil at 19% of mapped acres, then Colby (10%) and Wages (7%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Kit Carson County
Each reading below is measured for Kit Carson County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Kit Carson County are well drained, in hydrologic group B — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Kit Carson County runs about pH 7.2–7.4, on the alkaline side.
Many vegetables cope, but acid-lovers like blueberries struggle, and iron and manganese lock up above about pH 7.5 — leaves yellow between the veins even in rich soil.
Elemental sulfur and generous organic matter lower pH slowly for the beds that need it; test first so you add only what the soil actually calls for.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredKit Carson County runs about 179 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredKit Carson County sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Kit Carson County is in
Kit Carson County sits in the High Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Kit Carson County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Kit Carson County's own USDA zone 6a and its own 179-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile.
Is it too late to plant in Kit Carson County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 19 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
Documented around Kit Carson County
- monarch butterfly2 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Kit Carson County
USGS estimates 668,784 lb of Glyphosate on Kit Carson County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Atrazine (275,883 lb) and 2,4-d (210,054 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Kit Carson County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Kit Carson County — 166 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 1 Toxics Release Inventory facility. Active industrial facilities reporting chemical releases to air, water, and land.
The federal record across Kit Carson County is a modest one — a typical footprint for a growing area. Nothing here calls for alarm; it's worth knowing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and each one on the map carries its type and location. If one turns out to be a near neighbor, a one-time soil test settles the question.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Kit Carson County
Closest first, across Kit Carson County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Stratton Equity Co-Op Car CareUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- K C Electric AssociationUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- Dave HornungUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Kit Carson County District #2Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- SC000904701ABDNitrate · 2400 ft
- Stratton School District R-4Underground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- BY Food & Gas Mart LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- AmprideUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Denis & Dave Cure PropertyUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- SC00904701BABNitrate · 1.0 mi
- Del KordesUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Kit Carson County'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 Kit Carson County.
Total Sites
166
across Kit Carson County
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
across Kit Carson County
Severity Distribution
across Kit Carson County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Kit Carson County, two things run higher than the national average across Kit Carson County — CAFO (14 sites) and Nitrate (56 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Kit Carson County
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 Kit Carson County average
Your land is one point inside Kit Carson County
Everything above resolves to Kit Carson County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 1.4M 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Kit Carson County Average
Kit Carson County Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Kit Carson County
- ●One soil character for all of Kit Carson County
- ●Frost dates read at Kit Carson County's scale: Apr 23 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Kit Carson County's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Kit Carson County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Kit Carson County, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Kit Carson County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Kit Carson County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Kit Carson County average
How we know this about Kit Carson County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Kit Carson County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Kit Carson County
When does frost risk typically end in Kit Carson County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Kit Carson County typically lands around Apr 23, 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 May 14.
How long is the growing season in Kit Carson County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Kit Carson County sees about 179 frost-free days — roughly Apr 23 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 14 to Oct 5, about 144 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Kit Carson County?
The federal record around Kit Carson County shows 166 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (84), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
Everything above is measured at Kit Carson County's scale — its 6a band and its 179-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Kit Carson County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Colorado's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Kit Carson County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Kit Carson County's own scale — its own ~179-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 166 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Kit Carson County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Kit Carson County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~179-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Kit Carson CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 166 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile outFederal environmental registers
- Kit Carson County's boundary and the 1,382,925 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~179-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Kit Carson County sitting wholly inside the High PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Kit Carson County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Kit Carson County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Colorado grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Colorado
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Kit Carson County — the ~179 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Kit Carson County's 1,382,925 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 166 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Kit Carson Countyread your own land →