Newton County, in Indiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Newton County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Newton 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 Newton County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Newton County — the short answer
Newton County, Indiana: USDA zone 5b, about 202 days between hard freezes, across 257K acres.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~202
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 257K 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 5b is Newton County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Newton County's 202-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Newton County
Across a year, Newton County accumulates about 2,946 growing degree days above 50°F, about 210 fewer than the middle Indiana county — ahead of 25 of Indiana’s 92 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 Newton County
Across Newton County, the ground is predominantly Mollisols, where Granby, Selma, and Darroch are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally poorly drained with a loamy fine sand surface. Topsoil pH runs about 6.1–6.7, slightly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B/D soils.
Soil order
Mollisols
Drainage
Poorly drained
Prime farmland
14%
Hydric soils
50%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Newton County
The USDA soil survey maps 41% of Newton County as poorly drained — but another 58% drains differently: 25% somewhat poorly drained, 19% moderately well drained.
Granby is the most extensive named soil at 16% of mapped acres, then Selma (13%) and Darroch (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 Newton County
Each reading below is measured for Newton 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 Newton County are poorly drained, in hydrologic group B/D — ground that sheds water slowly.
Beds can stay saturated for days after heavy rain, and the roots of most vegetables, berries, and fruit trees suffocate or rot in soil that never drains.
Raised beds or mounded rows lift roots above the wet zone; choose water-tolerant crops for the lowest spots.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Newton County runs about pH 6.1–6.7, 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
MeasuredNewton County runs about 202 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
MeasuredNewton County sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Newton County is in
Newton County sits in the Central Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Newton County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Newton County's own USDA zone 5b and its own 202-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 Indiana profile.
Is it too late to plant in Newton County?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 30 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. A long window like this one runs successions deep into fall — and even its last weeks take quick greens and garlic.
Documented around Newton County
Survey cells within 31 miles of Newton County checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 49 miles off. What to watch for.
- Japanese beetle1 documented records
- monarch butterfly13 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Newton County
USGS estimates 177,575 lb of Glyphosate on Newton County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Atrazine (104,623 lb) and Acetochlor (64,250 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 Newton County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Newton County — 184 documented sites across 5 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 8 Toxics Release Inventory facilities. Active industrial facilities reporting chemical releases to air, water, and land.
The federal record across Newton 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 Newton County
Closest first, across Newton County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- Newton County Highway DepartmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- MOROCCO SMART STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- PERKINS PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- YANKEE S & L INCORPORATEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- JUMPY MANS INDUSTRIAL CLEANING LLCBrownfields · 2.6 mi
- JOE JOESUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- MOROCCO CAR WASH & GAS STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- WILSON BROTHERS FARM CENTER INCORPORATEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- INTEC GROUPToxics Release Inventory · 2.9 mi
- Indiana Bell Telephone CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- STEPHEN L STOREYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Newton 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 Newton County.
Total Sites
184
across Newton County
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
8 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
across Newton County
Severity Distribution
across Newton County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Newton County, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 94 sites across Newton County. 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 Newton 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 Newton County average
Your land is one point inside Newton County
Everything above resolves to Newton County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 257K 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 Newton County Average
Newton County Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Newton County
- ●One soil character for all of Newton County
- ●Frost dates read at Newton County's scale: Apr 11 to Oct 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Newton County's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Newton County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Newton County, Indiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Newton County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Newton County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Newton County average
How we know this about Newton 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 Newton County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Newton County
When does frost risk typically end in Newton County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Newton County typically lands around Apr 11, 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 2.
How long is the growing season in Newton County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Newton County sees about 202 frost-free days — roughly Apr 11 through Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 2 to Oct 16, about 167 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Newton County?
The federal record around Newton County shows 184 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (94), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.2 miles 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 Newton County's scale — its 5b band and its 202-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Newton 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 Indiana's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Newton County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Newton County's own scale — its own ~202-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 184 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Newton County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Newton County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~202-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Newton CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 184 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.2 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Newton County's boundary and the 257,123 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~202-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Newton County sitting wholly inside the Central Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Newton County for 2 tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Newton County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Indiana grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Indiana
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Newton County — the ~202 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 Newton County's 257,123 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 184 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 Newton Countyread your own land →