Mertzon, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
On paper, cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Mertzon, 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 Mertzon 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 Mertzon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Mertzon — the short answer
Mertzon, Texas: USDA zone 8a, about 251 days between hard freezes, across 972 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~251
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 972 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 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 Mertzon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mertzon's 251-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Mertzon
Each reading below is measured for Mertzon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMertzon runs about 251 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
MeasuredMertzon 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 Mertzon is in
Mertzon sits in the Edwards Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Mertzon's own centroid rather than borrowed from Irion County.
What Grows in Mertzon
Every plant below cleared Mertzon's own zone 8a and its 251-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Mertzon?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 17 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
What's on the federal record near Mertzon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Mertzon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FAMILY DOLLAR #11101Brownfields · 1400 ft
- MERTZON BULK PLANT FORMER SHELTON OIL AND GASUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- STAR STOP FOOD MART 3Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- STAR STOP FOOD MART 21Underground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- PK-43-50-217Nitrate · 2.3 mi
- MERTZON GAS PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 7.4 mi
- AT&SF RAILWAYUnderground Storage Tanks · 10.0 mi
- VACANT LOT-ONCE HIGHTS TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 10.0 mi
- IRION COUNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 10.0 mi
- CRA FARMLANDUnderground Storage Tanks · 10.0 mi
- MRS C A PARRYUnderground Storage Tanks · 10.0 mi
- MERTZON GAS PROCESSING PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 10.0 mi
1 more site is on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Mertzon'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 Mertzon.
Total Sites
15
within ~10 miles of Mertzon
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Mertzon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Mertzon
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Mertzon
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 Mertzon average
Your land is one point inside Mertzon
Everything above resolves to Mertzon as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 972 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 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 Mertzon Average
Mertzon Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Mertzon
- ●One soil character for all of Mertzon
- ●Frost dates read at Mertzon's scale: Mar 11 to Nov 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mertzon's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Mertzon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mertzon, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mertzon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mertzon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mertzon average
How we know this about Mertzon
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 Mertzon’s own record; 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 Mertzon
When does frost risk typically end in Mertzon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mertzon typically lands around Mar 11, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Mertzon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Mertzon typically arrives around Nov 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 3, so the watching starts about Oct 18 — about 251 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Mertzon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mertzon sees about 251 frost-free days — roughly Mar 11 through Nov 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 1 to Nov 3, about 216 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Mertzon?
The federal record around Mertzon is light — 15 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (11), the nearest Brownfields 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Mertzon?
From about Oct 18 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Mertzon's scale — its 8a band and its 251-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mertzon'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 Mertzon’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Mertzon's own scale — its own ~251-day season between 28°F freezes, the 972 acres it covers and 15 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mertzon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Mertzon's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 11 and Nov 17 and the ~251-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 15 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Mertzon, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Mertzon's boundary and the 972 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~251-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Mertzon's own centroid, the Edwards PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Mertzon's 972 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Irion County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Irion 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 Irion County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Mertzon's 972 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Mertzon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 972 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Mertzon-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasMertzon sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides