Beaufort County, in North Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Beaufort County lies within Tidewater & Chesapeake — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Beaufort County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Beaufort 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 Beaufort County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Beaufort County — the short answer
Beaufort County, North Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 275 days between hard freezes, across 533K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~275
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 533K 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 8b is Beaufort County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Beaufort County's 275-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Beaufort County
Across a year, Beaufort County accumulates about 4,919 growing degree days above 50°F, about 529 more than the middle North Carolina county — ahead of 83 of North Carolina’s 100 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.
Winter banks about 1,381 hours below 45°F, 382 fewer than the North Carolina middle of 1,763. Chill is what tells a fruit tree its dormancy is over, and it is set by climate rather than by anything you can build.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Beaufort County
Across Beaufort County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Tomotley, Roanoke, and Leaf are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally very poorly drained with a fine sandy loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.5–5.4, very strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B/D soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Very poorly drained
Prime farmland
8%
Hydric soils
71%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Beaufort County
The USDA soil survey maps 31% of Beaufort County as very poorly drained — but another 55% drains differently: 30% poorly drained, 13% somewhat poorly drained.
Tomotley is the most extensive named soil at 9% of mapped acres, then Roanoke (9%) and Leaf (9%).
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 Beaufort County
Each reading below is measured for Beaufort 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 Beaufort County are very poorly drained, in hydrologic group B/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 Beaufort County runs about pH 4.5–5.4, 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
MeasuredBeaufort County runs about 275 days between hard freezes — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredBeaufort County sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 Beaufort County is in
Beaufort County sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Beaufort County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Beaufort County's own USDA zone 8b and its own 275-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 North Carolina profile.
Is it too late to plant in Beaufort County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 3 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
Documented around Beaufort County
Survey cells within 31 miles of Beaufort County checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 83 miles off. What to watch for.
- monarch butterfly8 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Beaufort County
USGS estimates 215,984 lb of Glyphosate on Beaufort County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Atrazine (78,941 lb) and 2,4-d (50,870 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 Beaufort County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Beaufort County — 355 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 5 Superfund sites. 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 Beaufort 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 Beaufort County
Closest first, across Beaufort County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BO-216Nitrate · 1.3 mi
- HISTORIC BATH ST HISTORIC SITUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- BO-217Nitrate · 2.1 mi
- BATH GENERAL STORE, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- THE QUARTERDECKUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- BEAUFORT COUNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- BO-383 BATH RS 1Nitrate · 3.3 mi
- BO-384 BATH RS O17I2 NEAR BATH, NCNitrate · 3.3 mi
- BUCKS AMOCO BATHUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
- CARTWRIGHTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
- WILLIAM TANKARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
- ROSS FARMS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Beaufort 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 Beaufort County.
Sources Checked
across Beaufort County
Severity Distribution
across Beaufort County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Beaufort County, two things run higher than the national average across Beaufort County — Superfund (5 sites) and PFAS (3 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Beaufort 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 Beaufort County average
Your land is one point inside Beaufort County
Everything above resolves to Beaufort County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 533K 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 Beaufort County Average
Beaufort County Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Beaufort County
- ●One soil character for all of Beaufort County
- ●Frost dates read at Beaufort County's scale: Mar 3 to Dec 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Beaufort County's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Beaufort County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Beaufort County, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Beaufort County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Beaufort County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Beaufort County average
How we know this about Beaufort 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 Beaufort County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Beaufort County
When does frost risk typically end in Beaufort County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Beaufort County typically lands around Mar 3, 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 Mar 24.
How long is the growing season in Beaufort County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Beaufort County sees about 275 frost-free days — roughly Mar 3 through Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 24 to Nov 19, about 240 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Beaufort County?
The federal record around Beaufort County is a meaningful one — 355 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (211), the nearest Nitrate record about 1.3 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 Beaufort County's scale — its 8b band and its 275-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Beaufort 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 North Carolina's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Beaufort County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Beaufort County's own scale — its own ~275-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 355 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Beaufort County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Beaufort County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~275-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Beaufort CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 355 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Nitrate record about 1.3 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Beaufort County's boundary and the 532,934 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~275-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Beaufort County sitting wholly inside the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Beaufort County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Beaufort County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every North Carolina grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom North Carolina
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Beaufort County — the ~275 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 Beaufort County's 532,934 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 355 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 Beaufort Countyread your own land →