Cochran County, in Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Cochran County lies within the Texas High Plains / Panhandle and the High Plains — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Cochran County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Cochran 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 Cochran County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Cochran County — the short answer
Cochran County, Texas: USDA zone 7b, about 223 days between hard freezes, across 496K acres.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~223
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 496K 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 Cochran County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cochran County's 223-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Cochran County
Across a year, Cochran County accumulates about 4,209 growing degree days above 50°F, about 1,615 fewer than the middle Texas county — ahead of 19 of Texas’s 254 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 2,105 hours below 45°F, 1,010 more than the Texas middle of 1,095. 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 Cochran County
Across Cochran County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Amarillo, Patricia, and Midessa are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a fine sandy loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 7.4–8.1, slightly alkaline. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
0%
Hydric soils
0%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Cochran County
The USDA soil survey maps 97% of Cochran County as well drained — but another 3% drains differently: 3% excessively drained.
Amarillo is the most extensive named soil at 47% of mapped acres, then Patricia (17%) and Midessa (8%).
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 Cochran County
Each reading below is measured for Cochran 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 Cochran 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 Cochran County runs about pH 7.4–8.1, on the alkaline side.
Many vegetables cope, but acid-lovers like blueberries struggle, and iron and manganese lock up above about pH 7.5 — leaves yellow between the veins even in rich soil.
Elemental sulfur and generous organic matter lower pH slowly for the beds that need it; test first so you add only what the soil actually calls for.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredCochran County runs about 223 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
MeasuredCochran 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 Cochran County is in
Cochran County sits in the High Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Cochran County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Cochran County's own USDA zone 7b and its own 223-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 Texas profile.
Is it too late to plant in Cochran County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 30 (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. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
What gets applied to farmland in Cochran County
USGS estimates 343,733 lb of Glyphosate on Cochran County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Dicamba (68,382 lb) and 2,4-d (38,949 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 Cochran County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Cochran County — 48 documented sites across 4 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 5 concentrated animal feeding operations. Large-scale animal operations that can contaminate soil and groundwater with nitrates and pathogens.
The federal record across Cochran County is light. Growing food here starts from a strong position — a quick pass over the map tells you whether any recorded site sits near your land, and if one does, that's information to plant with, not a reason to stop.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Cochran County
Closest first, across Cochran County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LATCH OPERATIONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- WEST TEXAS GAS DIVISIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- REYNOLDS J C OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- TEXACO CS DEAN A UNITUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- HALES CCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- MORTON BRANCH OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- J C REYNOLDS OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- WHITEFACE CISDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- COCHRAN COUNTY MAINTENANCE SECUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- E C WHITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- CONOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- DP-24-18-804Nitrate · 2.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cochran 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 Cochran County.
Total Sites
48
across Cochran County
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
5 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
across Cochran County
Severity Distribution
across Cochran County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Cochran County, two things run higher than the national average across Cochran County — CAFO (5 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (31 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Cochran 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 Cochran County average
Your land is one point inside Cochran County
Everything above resolves to Cochran County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 496K 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 Cochran County Average
Cochran County Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Cochran County
- ●One soil character for all of Cochran County
- ●Frost dates read at Cochran County's scale: Mar 30 to Nov 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cochran County's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Cochran County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cochran County, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cochran County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cochran County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cochran County average
How we know this about Cochran 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 Cochran County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Cochran County
When does frost risk typically end in Cochran County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cochran County typically lands around Mar 30, 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 20.
How long is the growing season in Cochran County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cochran County sees about 223 frost-free days — roughly Mar 30 through Nov 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 20 to Oct 25, about 188 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cochran County?
The federal record around Cochran County is light — 48 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (31), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
Everything above is measured at Cochran County's scale — its 7b band and its 223-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cochran 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 Texas's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Cochran County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Cochran County's own scale — its own ~223-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 48 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cochran County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Cochran County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~223-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Cochran CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 48 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
- Cochran County's boundary and the 496,052 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~223-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Cochran County sitting wholly inside the High PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Cochran County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Texas grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Texas
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Cochran County — the ~223 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 Cochran County's 496,052 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 48 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 Cochran Countyread your own land →