Carteret County, in North Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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.
Carteret 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
Carteret County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Carteret 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 Carteret County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Carteret County — the short answer
Carteret County, North Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 291 days between hard freezes, across 325K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~291
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 325K 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 Carteret County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Carteret County's 291-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Carteret County
Across a year, Carteret County accumulates about 5,096 growing degree days above 50°F, about 706 more than the middle North Carolina county — ahead of 95 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 1,029 hours below 45°F, 734 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 Carteret County
Across Carteret County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Deloss, Longshoal, and Tomotley are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally very poorly drained with a fine sandy loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.7–6.0, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B/D soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Very poorly drained
Prime farmland
3%
Hydric soils
82%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Carteret County
The USDA soil survey maps 32% of Carteret County as very poorly drained — but another 18% drains differently: 9% poorly drained, 3% moderately well drained.
Deloss is the most extensive named soil at 12% of mapped acres, then Longshoal (9%) and Tomotley (6%).
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 Carteret County
Each reading below is measured for Carteret 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 Carteret 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 Carteret County runs about pH 4.7–6.0, 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
MeasuredCarteret County runs about 291 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
MeasuredCarteret 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 Carteret County is in
Carteret 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 Carteret County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Carteret County's own USDA zone 8b and its own 291-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 Carteret County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 11 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
Documented around Carteret County
Survey cells within 31 miles of Carteret County checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 88 miles off. What to watch for.
- monarch butterfly9 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Carteret County
USGS estimates 11,972 lb of Glyphosate on Carteret County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Atrazine (5,903 lb) and 2,4-d (3,349 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 Carteret County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Carteret County — 353 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 5 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 Carteret 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 Carteret County
Closest first, across Carteret County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- OPEN GROUNDS FARM, INC.Brownfields · 2.6 mi
- CT-161 LU-17Nitrate · 3.9 mi
- PITTMANS AUTO SALES & SRVC, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- CHADWICK BROS MARINEUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- BEAUFORT, TOWN OFPFAS · 4.8 mi
- SIDNEY GILLIKIN QUICK MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- CT-205 LU-S17B AT BETTIE, NC SURFICIALNitrate · 5.3 mi
- OPEN GROUNDS FARM INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.3 mi
- ALGER WILLIS FISH CAMPSUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
- CT-164 LU-S17A NEAR BEAUFORT, NCNitrate · 5.6 mi
- CT-162 SUPPLY 17Nitrate · 5.7 mi
- OUTER ISLAND GENERAL STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Carteret 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 Carteret County.
Total Sites
353
across Carteret County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Carteret County
Severity Distribution
across Carteret County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Carteret County, two things run higher than the national average across Carteret County — PFAS (8 sites) and Superfund (5 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Carteret 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 Carteret County average
Your land is one point inside Carteret County
Everything above resolves to Carteret County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 325K 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 Carteret County Average
Carteret County Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Carteret County
- ●One soil character for all of Carteret County
- ●Frost dates read at Carteret County's scale: Feb 23 to Dec 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Carteret County's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Carteret County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Carteret County, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Carteret County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Carteret County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Carteret County average
How we know this about Carteret 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 Carteret County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Carteret County
When does frost risk typically end in Carteret County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Carteret County typically lands around Feb 23, 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 16.
How long is the growing season in Carteret County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Carteret County sees about 291 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 27, about 256 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Carteret County?
The federal record around Carteret County is a meaningful one — 353 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (237), the nearest Brownfields 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 Carteret County's scale — its 8b band and its 291-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Carteret 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 Carteret County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Carteret County's own scale — its own ~291-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 353 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Carteret County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Carteret County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~291-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Carteret CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 353 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Brownfields record about 2.6 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Carteret County's boundary and the 324,868 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~291-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Carteret County sitting wholly inside the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Carteret County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Carteret 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 Carteret County — the ~291 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 Carteret County's 324,868 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 353 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 Carteret Countyread your own land →