Halifax County, in North Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Halifax 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
Halifax County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Halifax 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 Halifax County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Halifax County — the short answer
Halifax County, North Carolina: USDA zone 8a, about 246 days between hard freezes, across 463K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~246
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 463K 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 Halifax County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Halifax County's 246-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Halifax County
Across a year, Halifax County accumulates about 4,402 growing degree days above 50°F, about 12 more than the middle North Carolina county — ahead of 50 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 1,755 hours below 45°F, 8 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 Halifax County
Across Halifax County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Wedowee, Emporia, and State are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a fine sandy loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.8–5.3, very strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
55%
Hydric soils
22%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Halifax County
The USDA soil survey maps 54% of Halifax County as well drained — but another 45% drains differently: 18% moderately well drained, 18% poorly drained.
Wedowee is the most extensive named soil at 16% of mapped acres, then Emporia (15%) and State (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 Halifax County
Each reading below is measured for Halifax 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 Halifax County are well drained, in hydrologic group B — 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 Halifax County runs about pH 4.8–5.3, 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 22% of Halifax 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
MeasuredHalifax County runs about 246 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 Halifax County is in
Halifax County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Southeastern Plains (72%) and Piedmont (25%). 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 Halifax County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Halifax County's own USDA zone 8a and its own 246-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 Halifax County?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 20 — 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 Halifax County
Spotted lanternfly documented 23 miles from Halifax County, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
- monarch butterfly2 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Halifax County
USGS estimates 235,405 lb of Glyphosate on Halifax County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Acetochlor (84,400 lb) and Acephate (68,417 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 Halifax County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Halifax County — 514 documented sites across 8 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 Halifax 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 Halifax County
Closest first, across Halifax County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BINDERHOLZ ENFIELD LLC, SAWMILL PROJECT PAVEMENT IMPROVEMENTToxics Release Inventory · 2.4 mi
- CHESTNUT SOLAR - BLOCKS 2W, 2E, AND 2SBrownfields · 3.6 mi
- BULK PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- METRO MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- MIDWAY SERVICE STA.Underground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- COPPAGE FEED AND GRAINUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- QUALITY FOREST PRODUCTS, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- MIDWAY SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- HA-048 AURELIAN SPGS SCHNitrate · 3.8 mi
- 561 SERVICENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- ROBBIE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- DBA ROBBIE'SUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Halifax 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 Halifax County.
Total Sites
514
across Halifax County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Severity Distribution
across Halifax County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Halifax County, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 387 sites across Halifax County. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Halifax 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 Halifax County average
Your land is one point inside Halifax County
Everything above resolves to Halifax County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 463K 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 Halifax County Average
Halifax County Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Halifax County
- ●One soil character for all of Halifax County
- ●Frost dates read at Halifax County's scale: Mar 19 to Nov 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Halifax County's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Halifax County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Halifax County, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Halifax County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Halifax County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Halifax County average
How we know this about Halifax 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 Halifax County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Halifax County
When does frost risk typically end in Halifax County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Halifax County typically lands around Mar 19, 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 9.
How long is the growing season in Halifax County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Halifax County sees about 246 frost-free days — roughly Mar 19 through Nov 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 9 to Nov 6, about 211 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Halifax County?
The federal record around Halifax County is a meaningful one — 514 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (387), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory record about 2.4 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 Halifax County's scale — its 8a band and its 246-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Halifax 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 Halifax County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Halifax County's own scale — its own ~246-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 514 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Halifax County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Halifax County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~246-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Halifax CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 514 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 2.4 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Halifax County's boundary and the 463,192 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~246-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Halifax County spans, Southeastern Plains the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Halifax County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Halifax 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 Halifax County — the ~246 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 Halifax County's 463,192 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 514 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 Halifax Countyread your own land →