Kearny County, in Kansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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.
Kearny County lies within the High Plains — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Kearny County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Kearny 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 Kearny County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Kearny County — the short answer
Kearny County, Kansas: USDA zone 6a, about 194 days between hard freezes, across 557K acres.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~194
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 557K 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 Kearny County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Kearny County's 194-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Kearny County
Across a year, Kearny County accumulates about 3,531 growing degree days above 50°F, about 302 fewer than the middle Kansas county — ahead of 24 of Kansas’s 105 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 Kearny County
Across Kearny County, the ground is predominantly Mollisols, where Richfield, Ulysses, and Valent are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 7.2–7.5, neutral. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C soils.
Soil order
Mollisols
Drainage
Well drained
Hydric soils
1%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Kearny County
The USDA soil survey maps 69% of Kearny County as well drained — but another 31% drains differently: 23% excessively drained, 5% somewhat poorly drained.
Richfield is the most extensive named soil at 29% of mapped acres, then Ulysses (24%) and Valent (20%).
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 Kearny County
Each reading below is measured for Kearny 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 Kearny County are well drained, in hydrologic group C — 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 Kearny County runs about pH 7.2–7.5, on the alkaline side.
Many vegetables cope, but acid-lovers like blueberries struggle, and iron and manganese lock up above about pH 7.5 — leaves yellow between the veins even in rich soil.
Elemental sulfur and generous organic matter lower pH slowly for the beds that need it; test first so you add only what the soil actually calls for.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredKearny County runs about 194 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
MeasuredKearny 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 Kearny County is in
Kearny County sits in the High Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Kearny County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Kearny County's own USDA zone 6a and its own 194-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 Kansas profile.
Is it too late to plant in Kearny 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 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 25 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What gets applied to farmland in Kearny County
USGS estimates 293,839 lb of Glyphosate on Kearny County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Atrazine (179,048 lb) and Acetochlor (105,966 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 Kearny County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Kearny County — 242 documented sites across 4 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 11 concentrated animal feeding operations. Large-scale animal operations that can contaminate soil and groundwater with nitrates and pathogens.
There's a meaningful federal record across Kearny 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 Kearny County
Closest first, across Kearny County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 24S 36W 06CBB 01Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- 23S 37W 36DDD 01Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- 24S 36W 09BC 01Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- 23S 36W 33CBB 01Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- KEARNY CO. FEEDERS, LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- 23S 36W 29CBC 01Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- 24S 37W 12CAB 01Nitrate · 1.9 mi
- KEARNY COUNTY FEEDERS, LLCCAFO · 1.9 mi
- 24S 36W 16BAD 01Nitrate · 2.3 mi
- 24S 36W 16BDB 01Nitrate · 2.3 mi
- 24S 36W 16DAB 01Nitrate · 2.8 mi
- FRIENDSHIP FARMS, LLC #1CAFO · 3.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Kearny 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 Kearny County.
Total Sites
242
across Kearny County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
11 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
across Kearny County
Severity Distribution
across Kearny County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Kearny County, two things run higher than the national average across Kearny County — CAFO (11 sites) and Nitrate (178 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.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Kearny 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 Kearny County average
Your land is one point inside Kearny County
Everything above resolves to Kearny County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 557K 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 Kearny County Average
Kearny County Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Kearny County
- ●One soil character for all of Kearny County
- ●Frost dates read at Kearny County's scale: Apr 14 to Oct 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Kearny County's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Kearny County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Kearny County, Kansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Kearny County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Kearny County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Kearny County average
How we know this about Kearny 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 Kearny County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Kearny County
When does frost risk typically end in Kearny County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Kearny County typically lands around Apr 14, 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 5.
How long is the growing season in Kearny County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Kearny County sees about 194 frost-free days — roughly Apr 14 through Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 5 to Oct 11, about 159 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Kearny County?
The federal record around Kearny County is a meaningful one — 242 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (178), the nearest Nitrate 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 Kearny County's scale — its 6a band and its 194-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Kearny 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 Kansas's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Kearny County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Kearny County's own scale — its own ~194-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 242 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Kearny County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Kearny County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~194-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Kearny CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 242 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Nitrate record about 0.8 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Kearny County's boundary and the 557,147 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~194-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Kearny County sitting wholly inside the High PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Kearny County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Kansas grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Kansas
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Kearny County — the ~194 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 Kearny County's 557,147 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 242 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 Kearny Countyread your own land →