Dickson, Tennessee, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Dickson, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Dickson lot. 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 Dickson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Dickson — the short answer
Dickson, Tennessee: USDA zone 7b, about 235 days between hard freezes, across 13K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~235
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 13K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 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 Dickson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Dickson's 235-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Dickson
Each reading below is measured for Dickson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDickson runs about 235 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
MeasuredDickson 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 Dickson is in
Dickson sits in the Interior Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Dickson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Dickson County.
What Grows in Dickson
Every plant below cleared Dickson's own zone 7b and its 235-day season. Each card opens that plant's Tennessee profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Dickson?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 13 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
What's on the federal record near Dickson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Dickson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Dickson Bulk PlantUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- CARL'S CERTIFIED COLLISION CENTER, INCBrownfields · 2200 ft
- Quic ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Star GasUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- Fast Stop DowntownUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- UNITED PARCEL SERVICE (DICKSON)Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- K Don Faulkner Faulkner BuickUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Luters Village Market #2Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- CVS PHARMACY #6393Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- HORIZON MEDICAL CENTERBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- Horizon Medical CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Jones AutomotiveUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Dickson'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 Dickson.
Total Sites
211
within ~10 miles of Dickson
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Dickson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Dickson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Dickson, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Dickson — Toxics Release Inventory (20 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (153 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.
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 Dickson
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 Dickson average
Your land is one point inside Dickson
Everything above resolves to Dickson as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 13K 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 city 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 local average.
Your Lot vs the Dickson Average
Dickson Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Dickson
- ●One soil character for all of Dickson
- ●Frost dates read at Dickson's scale: Mar 23 to Nov 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Dickson's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Dickson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Dickson, Tennessee — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Dickson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Dickson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Dickson average
How we know this about Dickson
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Dickson’s own record; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Dickson
When does frost risk typically end in Dickson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Dickson 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.
When is the first frost in Dickson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Dickson typically arrives around Nov 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 30, so the watching starts about Oct 14 — about 235 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Dickson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Dickson sees about 235 frost-free days — roughly Mar 23 through Nov 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 13 to Oct 30, about 200 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Dickson?
The federal record around Dickson is a meaningful one — 211 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (153), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Dickson?
From about Oct 14 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Nov 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Nov 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Dickson's scale — its 7b band and its 235-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Dickson's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Dickson’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Dickson's own scale — its own ~235-day season between 28°F freezes, the 13,132 acres it covers and 211 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Dickson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Dickson's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 23 and Nov 13 and the ~235-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 211 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Dickson, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Dickson's boundary and the 13,132 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~235-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Dickson's own centroid, the Interior PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Dickson's 13,132 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Dickson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Dickson County
- The growing challenges every Tennessee grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Tennessee
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Dickson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Dickson's 13,132 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Dickson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 13,132 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Dickson-wide figureread your own land →
More in Tennessee
Wider growing context
What grows across TennesseeDickson sits outside our named growing regions, so Tennessee as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides