Pulaski County, in Indiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
The conditions favor cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Pulaski County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Pulaski 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 Pulaski County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Pulaski County — the short answer
Pulaski County, Indiana: USDA zone 6a, about 197 days between hard freezes, across 278K acres.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~197
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 278K 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 Pulaski County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pulaski County's 197-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Pulaski County
Across a year, Pulaski County accumulates about 2,845 growing degree days above 50°F, about 311 fewer than the middle Indiana county — ahead of 12 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 Pulaski County
Across Pulaski County, the ground is predominantly Mollisols, where Maumee, Brookston, and Morocco are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally poorly drained with a loamy fine sand surface. Topsoil pH runs about 6.2–6.7, slightly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group A/D soils.
Soil order
Mollisols
Drainage
Poorly drained
Prime farmland
9%
Hydric soils
57%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Pulaski County
The USDA soil survey maps 53% of Pulaski County as poorly drained — but another 47% drains differently: 18% moderately well drained, 11% excessively drained.
Maumee is the most extensive named soil at 25% of mapped acres, then Brookston (10%) and Morocco (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 Pulaski County
Each reading below is measured for Pulaski 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 Pulaski County are poorly drained, in hydrologic group A/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 Pulaski County runs about pH 6.2–6.7, 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
MeasuredPulaski County runs about 197 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
MeasuredPulaski 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 Pulaski County is in
Pulaski County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Central Corn Belt Plains (50%) and Southern Michigan/Northern Indiana Drift Plains (50%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Pulaski County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Pulaski County's own USDA zone 6a and its own 197-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 Pulaski County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 26 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
Documented around Pulaski County
Spotted lanternfly documented 29 miles from Pulaski County, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What gets applied to farmland in Pulaski County
USGS estimates 184,365 lb of Glyphosate on Pulaski County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Atrazine (112,096 lb) and Acetochlor (66,909 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 Pulaski County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Pulaski County — 152 documented sites across 4 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 9 Toxics Release Inventory facilities. Active industrial facilities reporting chemical releases to air, water, and land.
The federal record across Pulaski 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 Pulaski County
Closest first, across Pulaski County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TOM MURRAY FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- GEARLD STOTLERUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- NATIONAL WINAMACUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- THE BRAUN CORPORATIONBrownfields · 4.0 mi
- THE BRAUN CORPORATIONToxics Release Inventory · 4.0 mi
- PLYMOUTH TUBE COMPANYBrownfields · 4.1 mi
- PLYMOUTH TUBE COMPANYToxics Release Inventory · 4.1 mi
- PULASKI COUNTY HIGHWAY DEPARTMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- GALFAB ACQUISITIONS, LLCBrownfields · 4.2 mi
- GALFAB ACQUISITIONS, LLCToxics Release Inventory · 4.2 mi
- GALCO INCORPORATEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- WINAMAC SPRING CO INC D AND BToxics Release Inventory · 4.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Pulaski 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 Pulaski County.
Total Sites
152
across Pulaski County
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
9 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
across Pulaski County
Severity Distribution
across Pulaski County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Pulaski County, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 113 sites across Pulaski County. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Pulaski 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 Pulaski County average
Your land is one point inside Pulaski County
Everything above resolves to Pulaski County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 278K 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 Pulaski County Average
Pulaski County Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Pulaski County
- ●One soil character for all of Pulaski County
- ●Frost dates read at Pulaski County's scale: Apr 12 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pulaski County's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Pulaski County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pulaski County, Indiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pulaski County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pulaski County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pulaski County average
How we know this about Pulaski 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 Pulaski County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Pulaski County
When does frost risk typically end in Pulaski County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pulaski County typically lands around Apr 12, 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 3.
How long is the growing season in Pulaski County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pulaski County sees about 197 frost-free days — roughly Apr 12 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 3 to Oct 12, about 162 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pulaski County?
The federal record around Pulaski County shows 152 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (113), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 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 Pulaski County's scale — its 6a band and its 197-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pulaski 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 Pulaski County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Pulaski County's own scale — its own ~197-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 152 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pulaski County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Pulaski County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~197-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Pulaski CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 152 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Pulaski County's boundary and the 277,554 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~197-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Pulaski County spans, Central Corn Belt Plains the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Pulaski 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 Pulaski County — the ~197 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 Pulaski County's 277,554 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 152 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 Pulaski Countyread your own land →