Bradley County, in Tennessee, 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.
Bradley County lies within Appalachia — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Bradley County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Bradley 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 Bradley County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Bradley County — the short answer
Bradley County, Tennessee: USDA zone 7b, about 238 days between hard freezes, across 210K acres.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~238
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 210K 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 Bradley County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bradley County's 238-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Bradley County
Across a year, Bradley County accumulates about 4,204 growing degree days above 50°F, about 91 more than the middle Tennessee county — ahead of 64 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 1,916 hours below 45°F, 143 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 Bradley County
Across Bradley County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Montevallo, Fullerton, and Sequoia are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.0–5.5, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
22%
Hydric soils
3%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Bradley County
The USDA soil survey maps 75% of Bradley County as well drained — but another 22% drains differently: 8% moderately well drained, 7% somewhat excessively drained.
Montevallo is the most extensive named soil at 19% of mapped acres, then Fullerton (14%) and Sequoia (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 Bradley County
Each reading below is measured for Bradley 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 Bradley 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 Bradley County runs about pH 5.0–5.5, 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
MeasuredBradley County runs about 238 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
MeasuredBradley 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 Bradley County is in
Bradley County sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Bradley County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Bradley County's own USDA zone 7b and its own 238-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 Bradley 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 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 12 — 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.
Documented around Bradley County
Survey cells within 31 miles of Bradley County checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 108 miles off. What to watch for.
- Japanese beetle59 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Bradley County
USGS estimates 13,575 lb of Glyphosate on Bradley County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Atrazine (4,969 lb) and 2,4-d (3,633 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 Bradley County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Bradley County — 358 documented sites across 8 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 2 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 Bradley 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 Bradley County
Closest first, across Bradley County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Formaly King's GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Barbara MclainUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- Enara Food MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Favorite Market # 35Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- City of Cleveland - Public WorksUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Cleveland QuarryUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- Penske Truck LeasingUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- Harry's no. 15Underground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- Tennessee DotUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- CLEVELAND FOUNDRY & MFG. CO., INC.Toxics Release Inventory · 0.5 mi
- Buckner Rush Funeral HomesUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Cleveland Ready MixUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bradley 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 Bradley County.
Total Sites
358
across Bradley County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Severity Distribution
across Bradley County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bradley County, two things run higher than the national average across Bradley County — Toxics Release Inventory (35 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (263 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.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Bradley 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 Bradley County average
Your land is one point inside Bradley County
Everything above resolves to Bradley County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 210K 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 Bradley County Average
Bradley County Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Bradley County
- ●One soil character for all of Bradley County
- ●Frost dates read at Bradley County's scale: Mar 19 to Nov 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bradley County's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Bradley County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bradley County, Tennessee — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bradley County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bradley County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bradley County average
How we know this about Bradley 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 Bradley County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Bradley County
When does frost risk typically end in Bradley County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bradley 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 Bradley County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bradley County sees about 238 frost-free days — roughly Mar 19 through Nov 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 9 to Oct 29, about 203 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bradley County?
The federal record around Bradley County is a meaningful one — 358 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (263), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Bradley County's scale — its 7b band and its 238-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bradley 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 Bradley County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Bradley County's own scale — its own ~238-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 358 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bradley County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bradley County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~238-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Bradley CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 358 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Bradley County's boundary and the 210,407 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~238-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Bradley County sitting wholly inside the Ridge and ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Bradley County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Bradley 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 Bradley County — the ~238 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 Bradley County's 210,407 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 358 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 Bradley Countyread your own land →