Harwood, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Harwood, 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 Harwood 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 Harwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Harwood — the short answer
Harwood, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 306 days between hard freezes, across 344 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 5
- Gonzales County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 8
- Gonzales County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~306
- Gonzales County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 344 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 Gonzales County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Harwood's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Harwood's 306-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Harwood
Each reading below is measured for Harwood itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHarwood runs about 306 days between hard freezes (read from Gonzales County, the closest normal to Harwood) — 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
MeasuredHarwood sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Harwood is in
Harwood sits in the East Central Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Harwood's own centroid rather than borrowed from Gonzales County.
What Grows in Harwood
Every plant below cleared Harwood's own zone 9a and its 306-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Harwood?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 8 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Harwood
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Harwood. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KR-67-20-607Nitrate · 1400 ft
- KR-67-21-701Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- KR-67-20-902Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- KR-67-20-903Nitrate · 1.3 mi
- KR-67-20-904Nitrate · 2.1 mi
- BU-67-21-401Nitrate · 2.8 mi
- KR-67-29-101Nitrate · 3.5 mi
- BU-67-20-801Nitrate · 4.2 mi
- BU-67-20-802Nitrate · 4.3 mi
- HAPPY HEN FARM HARWOODCAFO · 4.5 mi
- BU-67-21-104Nitrate · 4.5 mi
- BU-67-20-604Nitrate · 4.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Harwood'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 Harwood.
Total Sites
194
within ~10 miles of Harwood
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Harwood
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Harwood
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Harwood, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Harwood — CAFO (6 sites) and Nitrate (134 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Harwood
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 Harwood average
Your land is one point inside Harwood
Everything above resolves to Harwood as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 344 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Gonzales County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’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 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 Harwood Average
Harwood Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Harwood
- ●One soil character for all of Harwood
- ●Frost dates read at Harwood's scale: Feb 5 to Dec 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Harwood's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Harwood
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Harwood, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Harwood averages can't show:
We read public map data around Harwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Harwood average
How we know this about Harwood
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 Gonzales 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 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 Harwood
When does frost risk typically end in Harwood?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Harwood typically lands around Feb 5, 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 Feb 26.
When is the first frost in Harwood?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Harwood typically arrives around Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 24, so the watching starts about Nov 8 — about 306 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Harwood?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Harwood sees about 306 frost-free days — roughly Feb 5 through Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 26 to Nov 24, about 271 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Harwood?
The federal record around Harwood shows 194 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (134), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.3 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 Harwood?
From about Nov 8 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 Dec 8 (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 Dec 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Harwood's scale — its 9a band and its 306-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Harwood'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 Harwood’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Harwood's own scale — the 344 acres it covers and 194 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Harwood's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 194 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Harwood, the closest Nitrate record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Harwood's boundary and the 344 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~306-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Harwood's own centroid, the East Central Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Harwood has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Gonzales County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Harwood's 344 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Gonzales County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Gonzales 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 Gonzales County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Harwood's 344 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Harwood you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 344 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.3 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 Harwood-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasHarwood sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.