Moody, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Moody, 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 Moody 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 Moody — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Moody — the short answer
Moody, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 286 days between hard freezes, across 892 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 18
- McLennan County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 1
- McLennan County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~286
- McLennan County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 892 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 McLennan County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Moody's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Moody's 286-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Moody
Each reading below is measured for Moody itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMoody runs about 286 days between hard freezes (read from McLennan County, the closest normal to Moody) — 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
MeasuredMoody 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 Moody is in
Moody sits in the Texas Blackland Prairies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Moody's own centroid rather than borrowed from McLennan County.
What Grows in Moody
Every plant below cleared Moody's own zone 8b and its 286-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Moody?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 1 — 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 Moody
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Moody. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- D&S PIT STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- J B VANDIVERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- NEWMANS QUICK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR # 11161Brownfields · 0.8 mi
- SOUTHERN ENTERPRISES OF ENVIROCAREBrownfields · 5.9 mi
- LIDE FIBERGLASS TANK TROYToxics Release Inventory · 6.1 mi
- NEW PERMIAN HOLDCOToxics Release Inventory · 6.1 mi
- FAMILY DOLLAR #7064Brownfields · 6.2 mi
- TETCO 811Underground Storage Tanks · 6.4 mi
- CEFCO 47Underground Storage Tanks · 6.4 mi
- PACE AMERICAN OF TEXAS INCToxics Release Inventory · 6.8 mi
- KNAUF INSULATION, INC.Toxics Release Inventory · 6.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Moody'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 Moody.
Total Sites
59
within ~10 miles of Moody
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Moody
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Moody
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Moody, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Moody — Toxics Release Inventory (7 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (38 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Moody
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 Moody average
Your land is one point inside Moody
Everything above resolves to Moody as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 892 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from McLennan 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 Moody Average
Moody Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Moody
- ●One soil character for all of Moody
- ●Frost dates read at Moody's scale: Feb 18 to Dec 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Moody's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Moody
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Moody, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Moody averages can't show:
We read public map data around Moody — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Moody average
How we know this about Moody
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 McLennan 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 Moody
When does frost risk typically end in Moody?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Moody typically lands around Feb 18, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Moody?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Moody typically arrives around Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 17, so the watching starts about Nov 1 — about 286 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Moody?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Moody sees about 286 frost-free days — roughly Feb 18 through Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 11 to Nov 17, about 251 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Moody?
The federal record around Moody is a meaningful one — 59 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (38), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Moody?
From about Nov 1 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 1 (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 1. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Moody's scale — its 8b band and its 286-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Moody'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 Moody’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Moody's own scale — the 892 acres it covers and 59 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Moody's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 59 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Moody, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Moody's boundary and the 892 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~286-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Moody's own centroid, the Texas Blackland PrairiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Moody has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom McLennan County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Moody's 892 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom McLennan County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom McLennan 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 McLennan County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Moody's 892 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Moody you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 892 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Moody-wide figureread your own land →
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