Norcatur, Kansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Norcatur, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Norcatur lot. 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 Norcatur — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Norcatur — the short answer
Norcatur, Kansas: USDA zone 6a, about 187 days between hard freezes, across 637 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~187
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 637 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 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 Norcatur's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Norcatur's 187-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Norcatur
Each reading below is measured for Norcatur itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNorcatur runs about 187 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
MeasuredNorcatur 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 Norcatur is in
Norcatur sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Norcatur's own centroid rather than borrowed from Decatur County.
What Grows in Norcatur
Every plant below cleared Norcatur's own zone 6a and its 187-day season. Each card opens that plant's Kansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Norcatur?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 21 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Norcatur
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Norcatur. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- D & M SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- TEMPLE, GERALDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- 02S 26W 36BAC 01Nitrate · 2000 ft
- 02S 26W 36BAC 03Nitrate · 2000 ft
- 02S 26W 36BAC 02Nitrate · 2000 ft
- BURLINGTON NORTHERN RAILROAD CUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- 02S 25W 27BAA 01Nitrate · 3.8 mi
- 02S 26W 11CDA 01Nitrate · 3.8 mi
- 2S 25W16DDDD1Nitrate · 3.9 mi
- 03S 25W 27ADD 01Nitrate · 6.2 mi
- 04S 25W 06ABB 01Nitrate · 6.5 mi
- CHARLEYS STANDARDBrownfields · 6.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Norcatur'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 Norcatur.
Total Sites
43
within ~10 miles of Norcatur
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Norcatur
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Norcatur
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Norcatur, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 36 sites within ~10 miles of Norcatur. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Norcatur
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 Norcatur average
Your land is one point inside Norcatur
Everything above resolves to Norcatur as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 637 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 city 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 local average.
Your Lot vs the Norcatur Average
Norcatur Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Norcatur
- ●One soil character for all of Norcatur
- ●Frost dates read at Norcatur's scale: Apr 17 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Norcatur's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Norcatur
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Norcatur, Kansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Norcatur averages can't show:
We read public map data around Norcatur — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Norcatur average
How we know this about Norcatur
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Norcatur’s own record; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Norcatur
When does frost risk typically end in Norcatur?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Norcatur typically lands around Apr 17, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Norcatur?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Norcatur typically arrives around Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 7, so the watching starts about Sep 21 — about 187 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Norcatur?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Norcatur sees about 187 frost-free days — roughly Apr 17 through Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 8 to Oct 7, about 152 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Norcatur?
The federal record around Norcatur is light — 43 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (36), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Norcatur?
From about Sep 21 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Oct 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Oct 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Norcatur's scale — its 6a band and its 187-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Norcatur's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Norcatur’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Norcatur's own scale — its own ~187-day season between 28°F freezes, the 637 acres it covers and 43 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Norcatur's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Norcatur's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 17 and Oct 21 and the ~187-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 43 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Norcatur, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Norcatur's boundary and the 637 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~187-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Norcatur's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Norcatur's 637 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Decatur County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Decatur County
- The growing challenges every Kansas grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Kansas
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Decatur County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Norcatur's 637 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Norcatur you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 637 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Norcatur-wide figureread your own land →
More in Kansas
Wider growing context
What grows across KansasNorcatur sits outside our named growing regions, so Kansas as a whole is its closest context here.