Gasconade County, in Missouri, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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.
Gasconade County lies within the Ozarks — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Gasconade County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Gasconade 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 Gasconade County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Gasconade County — the short answer
Gasconade County, Missouri: USDA zone 6b, about 209 days between hard freezes, across 332K acres.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~209
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 332K 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 Gasconade County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gasconade County's 209-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Gasconade County
Across a year, Gasconade County accumulates about 3,586 growing degree days above 50°F, about 167 fewer than the middle Missouri county — ahead of 32 of Missouri’s 115 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 Gasconade County
Across Gasconade County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Beemont, Union, and Wrengart are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally moderately well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.2–6.4, moderately acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Moderately well drained
Prime farmland
1%
Hydric soils
5%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Gasconade County
The USDA soil survey maps 68% of Gasconade County as moderately well drained — but another 32% drains differently: 16% well drained, 5% somewhat poorly drained.
Beemont is the most extensive named soil at 26% of mapped acres, then Union (22%) and Wrengart (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 Gasconade County
Each reading below is measured for Gasconade 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 Gasconade County are moderately well drained, in hydrologic group C — 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 Gasconade County runs about pH 5.2–6.4, 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
MeasuredGasconade County runs about 209 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
MeasuredGasconade 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 Gasconade County is in
Gasconade County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Ozark Highlands (86%) and Interior River Valleys and Hills (14%). 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 Gasconade County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Gasconade County's own USDA zone 6b and its own 209-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 Missouri profile.
Is it too late to plant in Gasconade 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 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 4 (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 Gasconade County
Survey cells within 31 miles of Gasconade County checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 291 miles off. What to watch for.
- Japanese beetle1 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Gasconade County
USGS estimates 21,350 lb of Glyphosate on Gasconade County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Atrazine (8,059 lb) and Acetochlor (5,348 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 Gasconade County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Gasconade County — 129 documented sites across 7 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 Gasconade 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 Gasconade County
Closest first, across Gasconade County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- OLD DUTCH MILL (MFA)Underground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- DRAKEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- GASCONADE COUNTY ROAD DEPARTMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- G & G WELDINGBrownfields · 4.2 mi
- well OZ-27Nitrate · 4.2 mi
- BAY MERCANTILE COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.4 mi
- KRETER STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
- LAKESIDE BOOK-OWNESVILLEToxics Release Inventory · 5.7 mi
- LAKESIDE BOOK-OWNESVILLEBrownfields · 5.7 mi
- T42N R05W 28DBC1Nitrate · 5.7 mi
- T42N R05W 28BDC1Nitrate · 6.0 mi
- ROSEBUD STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Gasconade 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 Gasconade County.
Total Sites
129
across Gasconade County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Gasconade County
Severity Distribution
across Gasconade County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Gasconade County, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 38 sites across Gasconade County. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Gasconade 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 Gasconade County average
Your land is one point inside Gasconade County
Everything above resolves to Gasconade County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 332K 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 Gasconade County Average
Gasconade County Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Gasconade County
- ●One soil character for all of Gasconade County
- ●Frost dates read at Gasconade County's scale: Apr 4 to Oct 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gasconade County's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Gasconade County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gasconade County, Missouri — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gasconade County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gasconade County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gasconade County average
How we know this about Gasconade 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 Gasconade County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Gasconade County
When does frost risk typically end in Gasconade County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gasconade County typically lands around Apr 4, 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 25.
How long is the growing season in Gasconade County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gasconade County sees about 209 frost-free days — roughly Apr 4 through Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 25 to Oct 16, about 174 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Gasconade County?
The federal record around Gasconade County is a meaningful one — 129 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (61), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.6 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 Gasconade County's scale — its 6b band and its 209-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gasconade 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 Missouri's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Gasconade County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Gasconade County's own scale — its own ~209-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 129 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gasconade County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Gasconade County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~209-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Gasconade CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 129 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.6 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Gasconade County's boundary and the 332,163 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~209-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Gasconade County spans, Ozark Highlands the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Gasconade County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Gasconade County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Missouri grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Missouri
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Gasconade County — the ~209 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 Gasconade County's 332,163 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 129 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 Gasconade Countyread your own land →