Spencer County, in Indiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, hazelnut, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Spencer County lies within the Southern Indiana & the Ohio River Valley and the Ohio River Valley — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Spencer County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Spencer 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 Spencer County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Spencer County — the short answer
Spencer County, Indiana: USDA zone 7a, about 226 days between hard freezes, across 254K acres.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~226
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 254K 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 7a is Spencer County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Spencer County's 226-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Spencer County
Across a year, Spencer County accumulates about 4,019 growing degree days above 50°F, about 863 more than the middle Indiana county — ahead of 88 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 Spencer County
Across Spencer County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Zanesville, Wellston, and Alford are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally moderately well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.9, moderately acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C/D soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Moderately well drained
Prime farmland
29%
Hydric soils
7%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Spencer County
The USDA soil survey maps 40% of Spencer County as moderately well drained — but another 58% drains differently: 30% well drained, 21% somewhat poorly drained.
Zanesville is the most extensive named soil at 10% of mapped acres, then Wellston (9%) and Alford (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 Spencer County
Each reading below is measured for Spencer 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 Spencer County are moderately well drained, in hydrologic group C/D — roughly the middle of the drainage range.
This is close to the middle most vegetables prefer: it holds enough water to carry a crop between rains without staying waterlogged. The catch is that a wet spring or a low corner can still tip it soggy.
Plant on the site as-is for most crops, but keep the lowest, slowest-draining beds for moisture-tolerant plantings.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Spencer County runs about pH 5.9, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredSpencer County runs about 226 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
MeasuredSpencer County sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Spencer County is in
Spencer County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Interior River Valleys and Hills (91%) and Interior Plateau (10%). 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 Spencer County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Spencer County's own USDA zone 7a and its own 226-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 Spencer County?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 8 — 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 Spencer County
Survey cells within 31 miles of Spencer County checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 123 miles off. What to watch for.
What gets applied to farmland in Spencer County
USGS estimates 201,643 lb of Glyphosate on Spencer County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (59,595 lb) and Acetochlor (42,106 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 Spencer County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Spencer County — 111 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 1 Superfund site (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 Spencer 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 Spencer County
Closest first, across Spencer County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- AT & T CorporationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- IN DOT Tell City Sub District Chrisney Unit 5Underground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- CIRCLE S FOODMARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- Spencer County Highway DepartmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- Chrisney FertilizerUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- INDOT CHRISNEY UNITBrownfields · 1.7 mi
- PVS STEEL SERVICES INCToxics Release Inventory · 1.8 mi
- PVS STEEL SERVICES INCBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- AK STEEL ROCKPORT WORKSBrownfields · 1.9 mi
- AK STEEL ROCKPORT WORKSToxics Release Inventory · 1.9 mi
- Indiana Michigan Power Rockport PlantUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- NEWTONVILLE SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Spencer 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 Spencer County.
Total Sites
111
across Spencer County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Spencer County
Severity Distribution
across Spencer County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Spencer County, two things run higher than the national average across Spencer County — PFAS (3 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (8 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Spencer 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 Spencer County average
Your land is one point inside Spencer County
Everything above resolves to Spencer County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 254K 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 Spencer County Average
Spencer County Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Spencer County
- ●One soil character for all of Spencer County
- ●Frost dates read at Spencer County's scale: Mar 27 to Nov 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Spencer County's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Spencer County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Spencer County, Indiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Spencer County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Spencer County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Spencer County average
How we know this about Spencer 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 Spencer County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Spencer County
When does frost risk typically end in Spencer County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Spencer County typically lands around Mar 27, 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 17.
How long is the growing season in Spencer County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Spencer County sees about 226 frost-free days — roughly Mar 27 through Nov 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 17 to Oct 25, about 191 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Spencer County?
The federal record around Spencer County is a meaningful one — 111 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (74), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.4 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 Spencer County's scale — its 7a band and its 226-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Spencer 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 Spencer County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Spencer County's own scale — its own ~226-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 111 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Spencer County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Spencer County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~226-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Spencer CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 111 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.4 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Spencer County's boundary and the 254,008 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~226-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Spencer County spans, Interior River Valleys and Hills the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Spencer 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 Spencer County — the ~226 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 Spencer County's 254,008 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 111 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 Spencer Countyread your own land →