Bedford County, in Tennessee, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Bedford County lies within the Nashville Basin — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Bedford County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Bedford 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 Bedford County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Bedford County — the short answer
Bedford County, Tennessee: USDA zone 7b, about 226 days between hard freezes, across 303K acres.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~226
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 303K 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 Bedford County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bedford County's 226-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Bedford County
Across a year, Bedford County accumulates about 4,187 growing degree days above 50°F, about 74 more than the middle Tennessee county — ahead of 60 of Tennessee’s 95 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 1,956 hours below 45°F, 103 fewer than the Tennessee middle of 2,059. 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 Bedford County
Across Bedford County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Talbott, Mimosa, and Ashwood are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.6–6.3, moderately acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
18%
Hydric soils
3%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Bedford County
The USDA soil survey maps 75% of Bedford County as well drained — but another 24% drains differently: 12% moderately well drained, 6% somewhat poorly drained.
Talbott is the most extensive named soil at 20% of mapped acres, then Mimosa (13%) and Ashwood (7%).
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 Bedford County
Each reading below is measured for Bedford 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 Bedford County are well drained, in hydrologic group C — 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 Bedford County runs about pH 5.6–6.3, 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
Season length
MeasuredBedford County runs about 226 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
MeasuredBedford 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 Bedford County is in
Bedford County sits in the Interior Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Bedford County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Bedford County's own USDA zone 7b and its own 226-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 Tennessee profile.
Is it too late to plant in Bedford County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 7 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
Documented around Bedford County
Spotted lanternfly documented 22 miles from Bedford County, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
- Japanese beetle2 documented records
- monarch butterfly1 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Bedford County
USGS estimates 52,176 lb of Glyphosate on Bedford County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of 2,4-d (35,438 lb) and Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (18,540 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 Bedford County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Bedford County — 229 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 Bedford 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 Bedford County
Closest first, across Bedford County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WAL-MART SUPERCENTER #656Brownfields · 800 ft
- Murphy USA #6915Underground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- LOWE'S OF SHELBYVILLE #1767Brownfields · 1500 ft
- TRACTOR SUPPLY COMPANY #706Brownfields · 2100 ft
- Woodlee's MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- CALSONIC NORTH AMERICAToxics Release Inventory · 0.6 mi
- CALSONIC NORTH AMERICABrownfields · 0.6 mi
- Rees Motors IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Vannatta Construction CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Discount Beer and TobaccoUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Soniya Discount Food MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- CORNER CLEANERSBrownfields · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bedford 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 Bedford County.
Total Sites
229
across Bedford County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Bedford County
Severity Distribution
across Bedford County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bedford County, two things run higher than the national average across Bedford County — PFAS (3 sites) and CAFO (3 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.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Bedford 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 Bedford County average
Your land is one point inside Bedford County
Everything above resolves to Bedford County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 303K 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 Bedford County Average
Bedford County Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Bedford County
- ●One soil character for all of Bedford County
- ●Frost dates read at Bedford County's scale: Mar 26 to Nov 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bedford County's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Bedford County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bedford County, Tennessee — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bedford County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bedford County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bedford County average
How we know this about Bedford 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 Bedford County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Bedford County
When does frost risk typically end in Bedford County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bedford County typically lands around Mar 26, 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 16.
How long is the growing season in Bedford County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bedford County sees about 226 frost-free days — roughly Mar 26 through Nov 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 16 to Oct 24, about 191 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bedford County?
The federal record around Bedford County is a meaningful one — 229 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (155), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Bedford County's scale — its 7b band and its 226-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bedford 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 Tennessee's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Bedford County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Bedford County's own scale — its own ~226-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 229 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bedford County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bedford County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~226-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Bedford CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 229 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Bedford County's boundary and the 303,129 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~226-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Bedford County sitting wholly inside the Interior PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Bedford County for 2 tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Bedford County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Tennessee grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Tennessee
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Bedford County — the ~226 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 Bedford County's 303,129 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 229 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 Bedford Countyread your own land →