Greenup County, in Kentucky, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, blackberry, 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.
Greenup County lies within the Ohio River Valley and Appalachia — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Greenup County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Greenup 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 Greenup County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Greenup County — the short answer
Greenup County, Kentucky: USDA zone 6b, about 195 days between hard freezes, across 220K acres.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~195
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 220K 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 6b is Greenup County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Greenup County's 195-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Greenup County
Across a year, Greenup County accumulates about 3,372 growing degree days above 50°F, about 288 fewer than the middle Kentucky county — ahead of 6 of Kentucky’s 120 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 Greenup County
Across Greenup County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Latham, Shelocta, and Berks are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.0–5.1, very strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
9%
Hydric soils
1%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Greenup County
The USDA soil survey maps 76% of Greenup County as well drained — but another 21% drains differently: 16% moderately well drained, 4% somewhat poorly drained.
Latham is the most extensive named soil at 32% of mapped acres, then Shelocta (20%) and Berks (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 Greenup County
Each reading below is measured for Greenup 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 Greenup County are well drained, in hydrologic group D — 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 Greenup County runs about pH 5.0–5.1, 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
MeasuredGreenup County runs about 195 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
MeasuredGreenup County sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Greenup County is in
Greenup County sits in the Western Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Greenup County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Greenup County's own USDA zone 6b and its own 195-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 Kentucky profile.
Is it too late to plant in Greenup 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 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 13 (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. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
Documented around Greenup County
Survey cells within 31 miles of Greenup County checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 91 miles off. What to watch for.
- monarch butterfly2 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Greenup County
USGS estimates 9,516 lb of Glyphosate on Greenup County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of 2,4-d (2,094 lb) and Atrazine (1,406 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 Greenup County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Greenup County — 207 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 3 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 Greenup 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 Greenup County
Closest first, across Greenup County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TN Gas PipelineUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- TN Gas Pipeline Co LLC - Station 200Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Rt 7 Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- TN GAS PIPELINE CO LLC - STATION 200Brownfields · 1.2 mi
- Vanovers GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- Barnyard Market & Cafe LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- CANNONSBURG WATER DISTRICTPFAS · 3.1 mi
- GREENUP WATER SYSTEMPFAS · 3.1 mi
- Warnock Bd Of EdUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- Dixie Bluff MicrowaveUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- Scaffs Auto Sales & SalvageUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- Country Junction MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Greenup 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 Greenup County.
Total Sites
207
across Greenup County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Greenup County
Severity Distribution
across Greenup County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Greenup County, two things run higher than the national average across Greenup County — PFAS (5 sites) and Superfund (3 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Greenup 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 Greenup County average
Your land is one point inside Greenup County
Everything above resolves to Greenup County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 220K 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 Greenup County Average
Greenup County Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Greenup County
- ●One soil character for all of Greenup County
- ●Frost dates read at Greenup County's scale: Apr 13 to Oct 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Greenup County's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Greenup County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Greenup County, Kentucky — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Greenup County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Greenup County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Greenup County average
How we know this about Greenup 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 Greenup County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Greenup County
When does frost risk typically end in Greenup County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Greenup County typically lands around Apr 13, 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 4.
How long is the growing season in Greenup County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Greenup County sees about 195 frost-free days — roughly Apr 13 through Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 4 to Oct 11, about 160 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Greenup County?
The federal record around Greenup County is a meaningful one — 207 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (139), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 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 Greenup County's scale — its 6b band and its 195-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Greenup 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 Kentucky's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Greenup County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Greenup County's own scale — its own ~195-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 207 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Greenup County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Greenup County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~195-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Greenup CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 207 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
- Greenup County's boundary and the 220,451 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~195-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Greenup County sitting wholly inside the Western Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Greenup County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Greenup County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Kentucky grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Kentucky
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Greenup County — the ~195 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 Greenup County's 220,451 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 207 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 Greenup Countyread your own land →