Terry 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.
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.
Terry 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
Terry County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Terry 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 Terry County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Terry County — the short answer
Terry County, Texas: USDA zone 7b, about 235 days between hard freezes, across 569K acres.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~235
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 569K 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 Terry County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Terry County's 235-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Terry County
Across a year, Terry County accumulates about 4,648 growing degree days above 50°F, about 1,176 fewer than the middle Texas county — ahead of 32 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 1,823 hours below 45°F, 728 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 Terry County
Across Terry 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 loamy fine sand 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
2%
Hydric soils
1%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Terry County
The USDA soil survey maps 98% of Terry County as well drained — but another 2% drains differently: 1% moderately well drained.
Amarillo is the most extensive named soil at 44% of mapped acres, then Patricia (26%) and Midessa (7%).
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 Terry County
Each reading below is measured for Terry 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 Terry 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 Terry 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
MeasuredTerry County 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
MeasuredTerry 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 Terry County is in
Terry 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 Terry County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Terry County's own USDA zone 7b and its own 235-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 Terry County?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 14 — 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 Terry County
USGS estimates 518,172 lb of Glyphosate on Terry County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Dicamba (104,355 lb) and 2,4-d (56,230 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 Terry County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Terry County — 163 documented sites across 7 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 Terry 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 Terry County
Closest first, across Terry County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ALAN BERRYHILLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- OLD ADAIR DISTRICT LOCATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- TECHNICAL SEED PROCESSINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- WELLMAN ISDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- JOHNSON GINUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- ALLSUPS 188Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- FALKNER SER STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- DANS GROCERY & MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- B E IMPLEMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- EDDINS-WALCHER SECURITY FUEL SYSTEMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- BROWNFIELD SEED & DELINTINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- GOMEZ GINUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Terry 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 Terry County.
Total Sites
163
across Terry County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Severity Distribution
across Terry County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Terry County, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 48 sites across Terry County. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Terry 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 Terry County average
Your land is one point inside Terry County
Everything above resolves to Terry County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 569K 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 Terry County Average
Terry County Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Terry County
- ●One soil character for all of Terry County
- ●Frost dates read at Terry County's scale: Mar 24 to Nov 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Terry County's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Terry County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Terry County, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Terry County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Terry County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Terry County average
How we know this about Terry 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 Terry County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Terry County
When does frost risk typically end in Terry County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Terry County typically lands around Mar 24, 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 14.
How long is the growing season in Terry County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Terry County sees about 235 frost-free days — roughly Mar 24 through Nov 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 14 to Oct 31, about 200 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Terry County?
The federal record around Terry County is a meaningful one — 163 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (93), 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 Terry County's scale — its 7b band and its 235-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Terry 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 Terry County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Terry County's own scale — its own ~235-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 163 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Terry County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Terry County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~235-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Terry CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 163 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
- Terry County's boundary and the 568,865 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~235-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Terry County sitting wholly inside the High PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Terry 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 Terry County — the ~235 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 Terry County's 568,865 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 163 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 Terry Countyread your own land →