Dodson Branch, Tennessee, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, hazelnut, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Dodson Branch, 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 Dodson Branch 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 Dodson Branch — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Dodson Branch — the short answer
Dodson Branch, Tennessee: USDA zone 7a, about 222 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~222
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 7K 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 7a is Dodson Branch's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Dodson Branch's 222-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Dodson Branch
Each reading below is measured for Dodson Branch itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDodson Branch runs about 222 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
MeasuredDodson Branch sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Dodson Branch is in
Dodson Branch sits in the Interior Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Dodson Branch's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jackson County.
What Grows in Dodson Branch
Every plant below cleared Dodson Branch's own zone 7a and its 222-day season. Each card opens that plant's Tennessee profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Dodson Branch?
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 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 5 — 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 Dodson Branch
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Dodson Branch. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Dodson Branch Market*Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Right ForkMining · 1.1 mi
- Jackson Co. Board Of EducationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- Roaring RiverMining · 3.1 mi
- GainesboroMining · 3.3 mi
- JK:K-008Nitrate · 3.9 mi
- Gainesboro At And T CommunicationUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- Strong's GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- Joe Allen 's GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.1 mi
- Roy's MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.4 mi
- Smith's GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.4 mi
- Delight's MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Dodson Branch'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 Dodson Branch.
Total Sites
168
within ~10 miles of Dodson Branch
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
7 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Dodson Branch
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Dodson Branch
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Dodson Branch, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Dodson Branch — PFAS (4 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (119 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Dodson Branch
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 Dodson Branch average
Your land is one point inside Dodson Branch
Everything above resolves to Dodson Branch as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 7K 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 town 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 Dodson Branch Average
Dodson Branch Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Dodson Branch
- ●One soil character for all of Dodson Branch
- ●Frost dates read at Dodson Branch's scale: Mar 28 to Nov 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Dodson Branch's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Dodson Branch
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Dodson Branch, Tennessee — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Dodson Branch averages can't show:
We read public map data around Dodson Branch — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Dodson Branch average
How we know this about Dodson Branch
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Dodson Branch’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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Dodson Branch
When does frost risk typically end in Dodson Branch?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Dodson Branch typically lands around Mar 28, 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 18.
When is the first frost in Dodson Branch?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Dodson Branch typically arrives around Nov 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 22, so the watching starts about Oct 6 — about 222 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Dodson Branch?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Dodson Branch sees about 222 frost-free days — roughly Mar 28 through Nov 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 18 to Oct 22, about 187 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Dodson Branch?
The federal record around Dodson Branch shows 168 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (119), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Dodson Branch?
From about Oct 6 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Dodson Branch's scale — its 7a band and its 222-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Dodson Branch'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 Dodson Branch’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Dodson Branch's own scale — its own ~222-day season between 28°F freezes, the 7,108 acres it covers and 168 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Dodson Branch's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Dodson Branch's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 28 and Nov 5 and the ~222-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 168 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Dodson Branch, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Dodson Branch's boundary and the 7,108 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~222-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Dodson Branch's own centroid, the Interior PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Dodson Branch's 7,108 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jackson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jackson 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 Jackson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Dodson Branch's 7,108 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Dodson Branch you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,108 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Dodson Branch-wide figureread your own land →
More in Tennessee
Wider growing context
What grows across TennesseeDodson Branch sits outside our named growing regions, so Tennessee as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides