Fulton County, in Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Fulton County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Fulton 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 Fulton County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Fulton County — the short answer
Fulton County, Illinois: USDA zone 6a, about 204 days between hard freezes, across 554K acres.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~204
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 554K 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 Fulton County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fulton County's 204-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Fulton County
Across a year, Fulton County accumulates about 3,232 growing degree days above 50°F, about 151 fewer than the middle Illinois county — ahead of 37 of Illinois’s 102 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 Fulton County
Across Fulton County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Rozetta, Hickory, and Ipava are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 6.2–6.8, slightly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
34%
Hydric soils
9%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Fulton County
The USDA soil survey maps 62% of Fulton County as well drained — but another 35% drains differently: 23% somewhat poorly drained, 8% poorly drained.
Rozetta is the most extensive named soil at 24% of mapped acres, then Hickory (13%) and Ipava (8%).
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 Fulton County
Each reading below is measured for Fulton 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 Fulton 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 Fulton County runs about pH 6.2–6.8, close to neutral.
This is the range most vegetables prefer — one correction you probably do not have to make, which is genuinely good news for a new bed.
Keep it there with compost rather than lime or sulfur, and only amend if your own soil test says otherwise.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredFulton County runs about 204 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
MeasuredFulton 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 Fulton County is in
Fulton County sits in the Interior River Valleys and Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Fulton County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Fulton County's own USDA zone 6a and its own 204-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 Illinois profile.
Is it too late to plant in Fulton County?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 29 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
Documented around Fulton County
- monarch butterfly65 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Fulton County
USGS estimates 245,828 lb of Glyphosate on Fulton County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Atrazine (97,662 lb) and Acetochlor (88,453 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 Fulton County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Fulton County — 231 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Fulton County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Fulton County
Closest first, across Fulton County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- R2 Retail Fuels, Inc. d/b/a Cuba Fast StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- WARECO 976Brownfields · 1.8 mi
- Fulton County Cusd #3Underground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- BURGUS AUTOBODYBrownfields · 1.9 mi
- Windriver IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- Casey's General Store #1615Underground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- CUBA MIDDLE-HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 2.0 mi
- Cuba Jr Sr Hs Maint ShedUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE 12400Brownfields · 2.1 mi
- Chets AmocoUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- AMOCO OIL CO SS 16454Brownfields · 2.2 mi
- Black Chevrolet-PontiacUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fulton 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 Fulton County.
Total Sites
231
across Fulton County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Fulton County
Severity Distribution
across Fulton County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Fulton County, two things run higher than the national average across Fulton County — CAFO (6 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (150 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Fulton 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 Fulton County average
Your land is one point inside Fulton County
Everything above resolves to Fulton County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 554K 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 Fulton County Average
Fulton County Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Fulton County
- ●One soil character for all of Fulton County
- ●Frost dates read at Fulton County's scale: Apr 8 to Oct 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fulton County's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Fulton County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fulton County, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fulton County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fulton County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fulton County average
How we know this about Fulton 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 Fulton County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Fulton County
When does frost risk typically end in Fulton County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fulton County 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.
How long is the growing season in Fulton County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fulton County sees about 204 frost-free days — roughly Apr 8 through Oct 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 29 to Oct 15, about 169 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fulton County?
The federal record around Fulton County is a meaningful one — 231 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (150), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.8 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.
Everything above is measured at Fulton County's scale — its 6a band and its 204-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fulton 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 Illinois's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Fulton County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Fulton County's own scale — its own ~204-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 231 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fulton County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Fulton County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~204-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Fulton CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 231 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.8 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Fulton County's boundary and the 554,044 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~204-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Fulton County sitting wholly inside the Interior River Valleys and HillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Fulton County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Fulton County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Illinois grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Illinois
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Fulton County — the ~204 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 Fulton County's 554,044 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 231 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 Fulton Countyread your own land →