Edgecombe County, in North Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Edgecombe County lies within the North Carolina Inner Coastal Plain (Eastern NC row-crop belt) — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Edgecombe County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Edgecombe 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 Edgecombe County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Edgecombe County — the short answer
Edgecombe County, North Carolina: USDA zone 8a, about 257 days between hard freezes, across 323K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~257
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 323K 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 8a is Edgecombe County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Edgecombe County's 257-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Edgecombe County
Across a year, Edgecombe County accumulates about 4,608 growing degree days above 50°F, about 218 more than the middle North Carolina county — ahead of 61 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 1,656 hours below 45°F, 107 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 Edgecombe County
Across Edgecombe County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Norfolk, Roanoke, and Rains are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a loamy sand surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.5–5.3, very strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group A soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
42%
Hydric soils
38%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Edgecombe County
The USDA soil survey maps 35% of Edgecombe County as well drained — but another 64% drains differently: 31% poorly drained, 21% moderately well drained.
Norfolk is the most extensive named soil at 14% of mapped acres, then Roanoke (11%) and Rains (10%).
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 Edgecombe County
Each reading below is measured for Edgecombe 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 Edgecombe County are well drained, in hydrologic group A — 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 Edgecombe County runs about pH 4.5–5.3, 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
Wet ground
MeasuredAbout 38% of Edgecombe County is mapped as hydric — wetland — soil.
If your lot falls in one of those pockets, a standard in-ground bed will fight waterlogging all season, and roots that need air will struggle.
Check how your own ground drains before you dig; raised beds or moisture-loving plantings turn a wet corner from a problem into a niche.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredEdgecombe County runs about 257 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
The kind of country Edgecombe County is in
Edgecombe County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Southeastern Plains (93%) and Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain (7%). 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 Edgecombe County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Edgecombe County's own USDA zone 8a and its own 257-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 Edgecombe County?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 26 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
Documented around Edgecombe County
Survey cells within 31 miles of Edgecombe County checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 46 miles off. What to watch for.
What gets applied to farmland in Edgecombe County
USGS estimates 207,666 lb of Glyphosate on Edgecombe County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Acetochlor (50,007 lb) and 2,4-d (48,856 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 Edgecombe County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Edgecombe County — 465 documented sites across 7 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 Edgecombe 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 Edgecombe County
Closest first, across Edgecombe County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SWIMWAYS CORPORATION - TARBORO FACILITYToxics Release Inventory · 0.9 mi
- SWIMWAYS CORPORATION - TARBORO FACILITYBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- COMFORT RESEARCHToxics Release Inventory · 1.0 mi
- 136109 - SWIMWAYS CORP.Toxics Release Inventory · 1.0 mi
- INTERNATIONAL PAPER CO MASONITE TARBORO PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 1.0 mi
- ANSELL EDMONT INDUSTRIAL INCORPORATEDBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- ANSELL EDMONT INDUSTRIAL INCORPORATEDToxics Release Inventory · 1.1 mi
- FOCAL POINTToxics Release Inventory · 1.2 mi
- FOCAL POINTBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- SUPERIOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS INCORPORATED TARBOROBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- SUPERIOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS INCORPORATED TARBOROToxics Release Inventory · 1.2 mi
- QUICK SHOPPEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Edgecombe 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 Edgecombe County.
Total Sites
465
across Edgecombe County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Edgecombe County
Severity Distribution
across Edgecombe County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Edgecombe County, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 329 sites across Edgecombe County. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Edgecombe 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 Edgecombe County average
Your land is one point inside Edgecombe County
Everything above resolves to Edgecombe County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 323K 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 Edgecombe County Average
Edgecombe County Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Edgecombe County
- ●One soil character for all of Edgecombe County
- ●Frost dates read at Edgecombe County's scale: Mar 14 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Edgecombe County's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Edgecombe County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Edgecombe County, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Edgecombe County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Edgecombe County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Edgecombe County average
How we know this about Edgecombe 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 Edgecombe County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Edgecombe County
When does frost risk typically end in Edgecombe County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Edgecombe County typically lands around Mar 14, 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 4.
How long is the growing season in Edgecombe County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Edgecombe County sees about 257 frost-free days — roughly Mar 14 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 4 to Nov 12, about 222 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Edgecombe County?
The federal record around Edgecombe County is a meaningful one — 465 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (329), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.9 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 Edgecombe County's scale — its 8a band and its 257-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Edgecombe 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 Edgecombe County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Edgecombe County's own scale — its own ~257-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 465 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Edgecombe County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Edgecombe County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~257-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Edgecombe CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 465 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.9 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Edgecombe County's boundary and the 323,479 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~257-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Edgecombe County spans, Southeastern Plains the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Edgecombe 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 Edgecombe County — the ~257 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 Edgecombe County's 323,479 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 465 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 Edgecombe Countyread your own land →