Washita County, in Oklahoma, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
These conditions suit cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Washita County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Washita 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 Washita County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Washita County — the short answer
Washita County, Oklahoma: USDA zone 7b, about 236 days between hard freezes, across 642K acres.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~236
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 642K 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 7b is Washita County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Washita County's 236-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Washita County
Across a year, Washita County accumulates about 4,762 growing degree days above 50°F, about 42 more than the middle Oklahoma county — ahead of 41 of Oklahoma’s 77 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 1,972 hours below 45°F, 53 more than the Oklahoma middle of 1,919. 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 Washita County
Across Washita County, the ground is predominantly Inceptisols, where St. Paul, Carey, and Grandfield are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 7.0–7.9, slightly alkaline. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B soils.
Soil order
Inceptisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
64%
Hydric soils
0%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Washita County
The USDA soil survey maps 90% of Washita County as well drained — but another 10% drains differently: 9% somewhat excessively drained, 1% somewhat poorly drained.
St. Paul is the most extensive named soil at 18% of mapped acres, then Carey (11%) and Grandfield (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 Washita County
Each reading below is measured for Washita 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 Washita 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 Washita County runs about pH 7.0–7.9, on the alkaline side.
Many vegetables cope, but acid-lovers like blueberries struggle, and iron and manganese lock up above about pH 7.5 — leaves yellow between the veins even in rich soil.
Elemental sulfur and generous organic matter lower pH slowly for the beds that need it; test first so you add only what the soil actually calls for.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredWashita County runs about 236 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
Winter hardiness
MeasuredWashita County sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b.
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 Washita County is in
Washita County sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Washita County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Washita County's own USDA zone 7b and its own 236-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 Oklahoma profile.
Is it too late to plant in Washita 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 Feb 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 13 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. A long window like this one runs successions deep into fall — and even its last weeks take quick greens and garlic.
What gets applied to farmland in Washita County
USGS estimates 58,832 lb of Glyphosate on Washita County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of 2,4-d (35,938 lb) and Acetochlor (15,268 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 Washita County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Washita County — 192 documented sites across 5 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities. Active industrial facilities reporting chemical releases to air, water, and land.
The federal record across Washita County is a modest one — a typical footprint for a growing area. Nothing here calls for alarm; it's worth knowing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and each one on the map carries its type and location. If one turns out to be a near neighbor, a one-time soil test settles the question.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Washita County
Closest first, across Washita County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Cordell CoopUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- Cordell Batch PlantUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- RITE WAY CLEANERSBrownfields · 850 ft
- Roy FeltmanUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Kwik-N-EzeUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Cordell TexacoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Growers Ag ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Cordell #510Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Kerr Mcgee Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Right Here C-StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- KING-LINDSEY INCBrownfields · 2500 ft
- Chuck's In-N-OutUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Washita 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 Washita County.
Total Sites
192
across Washita County
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
across Washita County
Severity Distribution
across Washita County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Washita County, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 66 sites across Washita County. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Washita 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 Washita County average
Your land is one point inside Washita County
Everything above resolves to Washita County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 642K 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 Washita County Average
Washita County Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Washita County
- ●One soil character for all of Washita County
- ●Frost dates read at Washita County's scale: Mar 22 to Nov 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Washita County's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Washita County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Washita County, Oklahoma — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Washita County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Washita County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Washita County average
How we know this about Washita 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 Washita County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Washita County
When does frost risk typically end in Washita County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Washita County typically lands around Mar 22, 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 12.
How long is the growing season in Washita County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Washita County sees about 236 frost-free days — roughly Mar 22 through Nov 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 12 to Oct 30, about 201 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Washita County?
The federal record around Washita County shows 192 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (113), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
Everything above is measured at Washita County's scale — its 7b band and its 236-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Washita 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 Oklahoma's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Washita County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Washita County's own scale — its own ~236-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 192 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Washita County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Washita County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~236-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Washita CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 192 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile outFederal environmental registers
- Washita County's boundary and the 641,977 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~236-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Washita County sitting wholly inside the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Washita County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Oklahoma grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Oklahoma
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Washita County — the ~236 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 Washita County's 641,977 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 192 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 Washita Countyread your own land →