Wells County, in Indiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
These conditions suit cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Wells County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Wells 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 Wells County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Wells County — the short answer
Wells County, Indiana: USDA zone 6a, about 205 days between hard freezes, across 236K 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 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~205
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 236K 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 Wells County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wells County's 205-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Wells County
Across a year, Wells County accumulates about 2,914 growing degree days above 50°F, about 242 fewer than the middle Indiana county — ahead of 20 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 Wells County
Across Wells County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Pewamo, Del Rey, and Blount are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally somewhat poorly drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 6.4–6.5, slightly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C/D soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Somewhat poorly drained
Prime farmland
9%
Hydric soils
41%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Wells County
The USDA soil survey maps 44% of Wells County as somewhat poorly drained — but another 56% drains differently: 35% very poorly drained, 12% moderately well drained.
Pewamo is the most extensive named soil at 32% of mapped acres, then Del Rey (22%) and Blount (21%).
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 Wells County
Each reading below is measured for Wells 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 Wells County are somewhat poorly drained, in hydrologic group C/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 Wells County runs about pH 6.4–6.5, 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
MeasuredWells County runs about 205 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
MeasuredWells 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 Wells County is in
Wells County sits in the Eastern Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Wells County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Wells County's own USDA zone 6a and its own 205-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 Wells 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 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 Wells County
Spotted lanternfly documented 20 miles from Wells County, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What gets applied to farmland in Wells County
USGS estimates 199,402 lb of Glyphosate on Wells County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Atrazine (88,551 lb) and Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (47,808 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 Wells County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Wells County — 155 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 2 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 Wells 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 Wells County
Closest first, across Wells County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PEYTON'S NORTHERN DISTRIBUTIONBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- Peytons Northern DistributionUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- ADM ANIMAL NUTRITION INCToxics Release Inventory · 0.8 mi
- CORNING GLASS WORKS BLUFFTON PLANTBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- INTEVA PRODUCTS-BLUFFTON OPERATIONSToxics Release Inventory · 1.0 mi
- FIRST FLEETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- BLUFFTON AGRI INDUSTRIAL CORPORATIONBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- WELLS COUNTY HIGHWAY DEPARTMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- MATALCO LLC - BLUFFTONToxics Release Inventory · 1.1 mi
- MATALCO LLC - BLUFFTONBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- CROWN UNLIMITEDBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- VALERO BLUFFTON PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 1.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wells 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 Wells County.
Total Sites
155
across Wells County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Wells County
Severity Distribution
across Wells County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Wells County, two things run higher than the national average across Wells County — CAFO (3 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (13 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Wells 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 Wells County average
Your land is one point inside Wells County
Everything above resolves to Wells County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 236K 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 Wells County Average
Wells County Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Wells County
- ●One soil character for all of Wells County
- ●Frost dates read at Wells County's scale: Apr 8 to Oct 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wells County's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Wells County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wells County, Indiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wells County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wells County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wells County average
How we know this about Wells 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 Wells County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Wells County
When does frost risk typically end in Wells County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wells 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 Wells County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wells County sees about 205 frost-free days — roughly Apr 8 through Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 29 to Oct 16, about 170 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wells County?
The federal record around Wells County is a meaningful one — 155 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (84), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.8 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 Wells County's scale — its 6a band and its 205-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wells 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 Wells County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Wells County's own scale — its own ~205-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 155 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wells County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wells County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~205-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Wells CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 155 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Brownfields record about 0.8 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Wells County's boundary and the 235,576 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~205-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Wells County sitting wholly inside the Eastern Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Wells 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 Wells County — the ~205 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 Wells County's 235,576 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 155 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 Wells Countyread your own land →