Gibson County, in Tennessee, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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.
Gibson County lies within the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Gibson County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Gibson 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 Gibson County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Gibson County — the short answer
Gibson County, Tennessee: USDA zone 7b, about 230 days between hard freezes, across 386K acres.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~230
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 386K 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 Gibson County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gibson County's 230-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Gibson County
Across a year, Gibson County accumulates about 4,413 growing degree days above 50°F, about 300 more than the middle Tennessee county — ahead of 80 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 2,059 hours below 45°F, 0 more 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 Gibson County
Across Gibson County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Providence, Loring, and Collins are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally moderately well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.3, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C/D soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Moderately well drained
Prime farmland
30%
Hydric soils
25%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Gibson County
The USDA soil survey maps 54% of Gibson County as moderately well drained — but another 44% drains differently: 17% well drained, 15% somewhat poorly drained.
Providence is the most extensive named soil at 21% of mapped acres, then Loring (19%) and Collins (9%).
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 Gibson County
Each reading below is measured for Gibson 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 Gibson County are moderately well drained, in hydrologic group C/D — roughly the middle of the drainage range.
This is close to the middle most vegetables prefer: it holds enough water to carry a crop between rains without staying waterlogged. The catch is that a wet spring or a low corner can still tip it soggy.
Plant on the site as-is for most crops, but keep the lowest, slowest-draining beds for moisture-tolerant plantings.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Gibson County runs about pH 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 25% of Gibson 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
MeasuredGibson County runs about 230 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 Gibson County is in
Gibson County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Mississippi Valley Loess Plains (63%) and Southeastern Plains (38%). 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 Gibson County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Gibson County's own USDA zone 7b and its own 230-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 Gibson 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 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 8 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
What gets applied to farmland in Gibson County
USGS estimates 325,798 lb of Glyphosate on Gibson County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Atrazine (130,875 lb) and Acetochlor (61,127 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 Gibson County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Gibson County — 373 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 5 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 Gibson 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 Gibson County
Closest first, across Gibson County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- City HallUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- DUNCAN'S AUTO BODY SHOPBrownfields · 2400 ft
- T-----5Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Trenton Animal ClinicUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Trenton Gin CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Pig Pen RestaurantUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Maverick Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Trenton Express MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Trenton BP Service Station, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Townhouse Office BldgUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Steele Ser. CtrUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Trenton Grain CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Gibson 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 Gibson County.
Total Sites
373
across Gibson County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Gibson County
Severity Distribution
across Gibson County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Gibson County, two things run higher than the national average across Gibson County — Toxics Release Inventory (34 sites) and PFAS (4 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Gibson 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 Gibson County average
Your land is one point inside Gibson County
Everything above resolves to Gibson County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 386K 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 Gibson County Average
Gibson County Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Gibson County
- ●One soil character for all of Gibson County
- ●Frost dates read at Gibson County's scale: Mar 23 to Nov 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gibson County's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Gibson County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gibson County, Tennessee — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gibson County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gibson County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gibson County average
How we know this about Gibson 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 Gibson County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Gibson County
When does frost risk typically end in Gibson County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gibson County typically lands around Mar 23, 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 13.
How long is the growing season in Gibson County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gibson County sees about 230 frost-free days — roughly Mar 23 through Nov 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 13 to Oct 25, about 195 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Gibson County?
The federal record around Gibson County is a meaningful one — 373 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (248), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Gibson County's scale — its 7b band and its 230-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gibson 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 Gibson County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Gibson County's own scale — its own ~230-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 373 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gibson County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Gibson County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~230-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Gibson CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 373 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Gibson County's boundary and the 385,757 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~230-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Gibson County spans, Mississippi Valley Loess Plains the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Gibson 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 Gibson County — the ~230 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 Gibson County's 385,757 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 373 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 Gibson Countyread your own land →