Throckmorton County, in Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Throckmorton County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Throckmorton 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 Throckmorton County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Throckmorton County — the short answer
Throckmorton County, Texas: USDA zone 8a, about 253 days between hard freezes, across 584K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~253
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 584K 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 8a is Throckmorton County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Throckmorton County's 253-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Throckmorton County
Across a year, Throckmorton County accumulates about 5,625 growing degree days above 50°F, about 199 fewer than the middle Texas county — ahead of 89 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 1,459 hours below 45°F, 364 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 Throckmorton County
Across Throckmorton County, the ground is predominantly Mollisols, where Lueders, Throck, and Leeray are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a clay loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 7.4–8.2, slightly alkaline. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Mollisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
30%
Hydric soils
0%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Throckmorton County
The USDA soil survey maps 97% of Throckmorton County as well drained — but another 3% drains differently: 2% moderately well drained, 1% somewhat excessively drained.
Lueders is the most extensive named soil at 17% of mapped acres, then Throck (12%) and Leeray (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 Throckmorton County
Each reading below is measured for Throckmorton 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 Throckmorton County are well drained, in hydrologic group D — 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 Throckmorton County runs about pH 7.4–8.2, 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
MeasuredThrockmorton County runs about 253 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
MeasuredThrockmorton County sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Throckmorton County is in
Throckmorton County sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Throckmorton County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Throckmorton County's own USDA zone 8a and its own 253-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 Throckmorton County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 20 — 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.
Documented around Throckmorton County
- monarch butterfly2 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Throckmorton County
USGS estimates 22,823 lb of Glyphosate on Throckmorton County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of 2,4-d (16,316 lb) and Acetochlor (4,599 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 Throckmorton County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Throckmorton County — 15 documented sites across 2 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 14 underground storage tanks. Registered underground fuel tanks — the #1 source of soil contamination in residential areas.
The federal record across Throckmorton County is a modest one — a typical footprint for a growing area. Nothing here calls for alarm; it's worth knowing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and each one on the map carries its type and location. If one turns out to be a near neighbor, a one-time soil test settles the question.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Throckmorton County
Closest first, across Throckmorton County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WOODSON TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CLIFTON MALEYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- DUNLAP FEEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- AZLE COMMUNICATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- DAVIS FINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- WOODSON ISDUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ELBERT FARM STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- THROCKMORTON ISDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- ALLSUPS 221Underground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- CLINTS 2Underground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- SCARLETT BUTANEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- THROCKMORTON MILL & ELEVUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
3 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Throckmorton 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 Throckmorton County.
Total Sites
15
across Throckmorton County
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
14 underground storage tanks
Severity Distribution
across Throckmorton County
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •PFAS do not break down in groundwater. Irrigate from a tested source.
Check your specific parcel in Throckmorton 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 Throckmorton County average
Your land is one point inside Throckmorton County
Everything above resolves to Throckmorton County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 584K 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 Throckmorton County Average
Throckmorton County Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Throckmorton County
- ●One soil character for all of Throckmorton County
- ●Frost dates read at Throckmorton County's scale: Mar 12 to Nov 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Throckmorton County's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Throckmorton County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Throckmorton County, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Throckmorton County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Throckmorton County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Throckmorton County average
How we know this about Throckmorton 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 Throckmorton County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Throckmorton County
When does frost risk typically end in Throckmorton County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Throckmorton County typically lands around Mar 12, 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 2.
How long is the growing season in Throckmorton County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Throckmorton County sees about 253 frost-free days — roughly Mar 12 through Nov 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 2 to Nov 6, about 218 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Throckmorton County?
The federal record around Throckmorton County shows 15 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (14), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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.
Everything above is measured at Throckmorton County's scale — its 8a band and its 253-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Throckmorton 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 Throckmorton County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Throckmorton County's own scale — its own ~253-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 15 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Throckmorton County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Throckmorton County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~253-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Throckmorton CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 15 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Throckmorton County's boundary and the 584,033 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~253-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Throckmorton County sitting wholly inside the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Throckmorton County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Throckmorton 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 Throckmorton County — the ~253 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 Throckmorton County's 584,033 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 15 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 Throckmorton Countyread your own land →