Licking County, in Ohio, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Licking County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Licking 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 Licking County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Licking County — the short answer
Licking County, Ohio: USDA zone 6a, about 195 days between hard freezes, across 437K acres.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~195
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 437K 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 6a is Licking County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Licking County's 195-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Licking County
Across a year, Licking County accumulates about 2,743 growing degree days above 50°F, about 179 fewer than the middle Ohio county — ahead of 15 of Ohio’s 88 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 Licking County
Across Licking County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Centerburg, Bennington, and Brownsville are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.9–6.2, moderately acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C/D soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
24%
Hydric soils
12%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Licking County
The USDA soil survey maps 36% of Licking County as well drained — but another 62% drains differently: 30% moderately well drained, 20% somewhat poorly drained.
Centerburg is the most extensive named soil at 15% of mapped acres, then Bennington (14%) and Brownsville (13%).
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 Licking County
Each reading below is measured for Licking 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 Licking County are well drained, in hydrologic group C/D — 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 Licking County runs about pH 5.9–6.2, close to neutral.
This is the range most vegetables prefer — one correction you probably do not have to make, which is genuinely good news for a new bed.
Keep it there with compost rather than lime or sulfur, and only amend if your own soil test says otherwise.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredLicking County runs about 195 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredLicking County sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Licking County is in
Licking County spans 3 EPA Level III ecoregions — Erie Drift Plain (56%), Western Allegheny Plateau (25%) and Eastern Corn Belt Plains (19%). 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 Licking County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Licking County's own USDA zone 6a and its own 195-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 Ohio profile.
Is it too late to plant in Licking 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 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 26 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
Documented around Licking County
Spotted lanternfly documented 25 miles from Licking County, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
- Japanese beetle43 documented records
- monarch butterfly189 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Licking County
USGS estimates 77,168 lb of Glyphosate on Licking County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Atrazine (43,631 lb) and Acetochlor (27,161 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 Licking County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Licking County — 678 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 12 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 Licking 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 Licking County
Closest first, across Licking County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FRANK BOFFABrownfields · 900 ft
- TJX CORPORATE TECHNOLOGY CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- HARMON BURKE FIELDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- GRANVILLE EXEMPT VILLAGE SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- RYANS' NEWARK LEADER PRINTING COUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- MARATHON #1132Underground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICEBrownfields · 2.5 mi
- GRANVILLE GOLF COURSE, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- CVS PHARMACY #0396Brownfields · 2.5 mi
- DENISON UNIVERSITYBrownfields · 2.5 mi
- Windstream OHIO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- SPEEDWAY #8640Underground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Licking 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 Licking County.
Total Sites
678
across Licking County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
12 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Licking County
Severity Distribution
across Licking County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Licking County, two things run higher than the national average across Licking County — Toxics Release Inventory (60 sites) and Superfund (12 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Licking 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 Licking County average
Your land is one point inside Licking County
Everything above resolves to Licking County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 437K 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 Licking County Average
Licking County Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Licking County
- ●One soil character for all of Licking County
- ●Frost dates read at Licking County's scale: Apr 14 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Licking County's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Licking County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Licking County, Ohio — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Licking County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Licking County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Licking County average
How we know this about Licking 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 Licking County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Licking County
When does frost risk typically end in Licking County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Licking County typically lands around Apr 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 May 5.
How long is the growing season in Licking County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Licking County sees about 195 frost-free days — roughly Apr 14 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 5 to Oct 12, about 160 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Licking County?
The federal record around Licking County is a meaningful one — 678 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (307), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Licking County's scale — its 6a band and its 195-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Licking 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 Ohio's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Licking County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Licking County's own scale — its own ~195-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 678 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Licking County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Licking County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~195-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Licking CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 678 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Licking County's boundary and the 436,755 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~195-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 3 ecoregions Licking County spans, Erie Drift Plain the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Licking County for 2 tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Licking County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Ohio grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Ohio
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Licking County — the ~195 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 Licking County's 436,755 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 678 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 Licking Countyread your own land →