De Kalb, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in De Kalb, 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 De Kalb 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 De Kalb — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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De Kalb — the short answer
De Kalb, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 274 days between hard freezes, across 876 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 25
- Bowie County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Bowie County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~274
- Bowie County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 876 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Bowie County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is De Kalb's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against De Kalb's 274-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in De Kalb
Each reading below is measured for De Kalb itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsDe Kalb runs about 274 days between hard freezes (read from Bowie County, the closest normal to De Kalb) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredDe Kalb sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 De Kalb is in
De Kalb sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at De Kalb's own centroid rather than borrowed from Bowie County.
What Grows in De Kalb
Every plant below cleared De Kalb's own zone 8b and its 274-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in De Kalb?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 26 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near De Kalb
Closest first, within ~10 miles of De Kalb. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DEKALB EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR #3828Brownfields · 450 ft
- SAVE MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- BEARS DENUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- STOP AND GOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- LOES PARTS PLUS STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- THE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- QUICK TRACK 41Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- BUDDYS TIRE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- LOES PARTS PLUS OFFICESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- DEKALB SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- WEIDAS SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from De Kalb'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 De Kalb.
Total Sites
23
within ~10 miles of De Kalb
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of De Kalb
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of De Kalb
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in De Kalb
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 De Kalb average
Your land is one point inside De Kalb
Everything above resolves to De Kalb as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 876 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Bowie County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’s own centroid. 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 De Kalb Average
De Kalb Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across De Kalb
- ●One soil character for all of De Kalb
- ●Frost dates read at De Kalb's scale: Feb 25 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not De Kalb's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in De Kalb
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in De Kalb, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that De Kalb averages can't show:
We read public map data around De Kalb — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the De Kalb average
How we know this about De Kalb
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 Bowie County’s record, because none resolves here; 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 De Kalb
When does frost risk typically end in De Kalb?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in De Kalb typically lands around Feb 25, 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 Mar 18.
When is the first frost in De Kalb?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in De Kalb typically arrives around Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 12, so the watching starts about Oct 27 — about 274 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in De Kalb?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, De Kalb sees about 274 frost-free days — roughly Feb 25 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 18 to Nov 12, about 239 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in De Kalb?
The federal record around De Kalb is light — 23 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (20), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in De Kalb?
From about Oct 27 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at De Kalb's scale — its 8b band and its 274-day season. Your yard writes its own version of De Kalb'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 De Kalb’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at De Kalb's own scale — the 876 acres it covers and 23 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- De Kalb's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 23 documented contamination sites on the federal record near De Kalb, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- De Kalb's boundary and the 876 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~274-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at De Kalb's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — De Kalb has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Bowie County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so De Kalb's 876 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Bowie County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Bowie County
- The growing challenges every Texas grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Texas
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Bowie County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among De Kalb's 876 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of De Kalb you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 876 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 De Kalb-wide figureread your own land →
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