Mustang Ridge, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Reliable performers under these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Mustang Ridge, 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 Mustang Ridge 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 Mustang Ridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Mustang Ridge — the short answer
Mustang Ridge, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 299 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 9
- Travis County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 5
- Travis County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~299
- Travis County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Travis County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Mustang Ridge's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mustang Ridge's 299-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Mustang Ridge
Each reading below is measured for Mustang Ridge itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMustang Ridge runs about 299 days between hard freezes (read from Travis County, the closest normal to Mustang Ridge) — 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
MeasuredMustang Ridge 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 Mustang Ridge is in
Mustang Ridge sits in the Texas Blackland Prairies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Mustang Ridge's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Travis County is mostly Edwards Plateau. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Mustang Ridge
Every plant below cleared Mustang Ridge's own zone 9a and its 299-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Mustang Ridge?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 5 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
Documented around Mustang Ridge
Survey cells within 31 miles of Mustang Ridge checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 615 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Mustang Ridge
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Mustang Ridge. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FLINT HILLS RESOURCES CORPUS CHRISTI LLC MUSTANG RIDGEToxics Release Inventory · 1.7 mi
- MUSTANG RIDGE TERMINALBrownfields · 1.7 mi
- DORSETT DITCHING 9912 BOCK RDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- RTI HOT MIX MUSTANG RIDGE ASPHALT PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 2.7 mi
- PILOT TRAVEL CENTER 1054Underground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- CREEDMOOR COUNTRY GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- SNAX MAX 1Underground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- WILHITES COUNTRY CORNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- MUSTANG FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- BREAD BASKET CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- AUSTIN CREEDMOOR 243 CO XP2968Underground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- INCYCLE ELECTRONICS INCToxics Release Inventory · 4.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Mustang Ridge'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 Mustang Ridge.
Total Sites
208
within ~10 miles of Mustang Ridge
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Mustang Ridge
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Mustang Ridge
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Mustang Ridge, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Mustang Ridge — PFAS (5 sites) and Nitrate (66 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Mustang Ridge
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 Mustang Ridge average
Your land is one point inside Mustang Ridge
Everything above resolves to Mustang Ridge as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Travis 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 Mustang Ridge Average
Mustang Ridge Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Mustang Ridge
- ●One soil character for all of Mustang Ridge
- ●Frost dates read at Mustang Ridge's scale: Feb 9 to Dec 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mustang Ridge's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Mustang Ridge
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mustang Ridge, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mustang Ridge averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mustang Ridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mustang Ridge average
How we know this about Mustang Ridge
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 Travis 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 Mustang Ridge
When does frost risk typically end in Mustang Ridge?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mustang Ridge typically lands around Feb 9, 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 2.
When is the first frost in Mustang Ridge?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Mustang Ridge typically arrives around Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 21, so the watching starts about Nov 5 — about 299 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Mustang Ridge?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mustang Ridge sees about 299 frost-free days — roughly Feb 9 through Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 2 to Nov 21, about 264 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Mustang Ridge?
The federal record around Mustang Ridge is a meaningful one — 208 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (87), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory record about 1.7 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 Mustang Ridge?
From about Nov 5 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Mustang Ridge's scale — its 9a band and its 299-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mustang Ridge'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 Mustang Ridge’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Mustang Ridge's own scale — the 2,387 acres it covers and 208 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mustang Ridge's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 208 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Mustang Ridge, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 1.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Mustang Ridge's boundary and the 2,387 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~299-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Mustang Ridge sits in the Texas Blackland Prairies — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Mustang Ridge checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Mustang Ridge has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Travis County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Mustang Ridge's 2,387 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Travis County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Travis 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 Travis County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Mustang Ridge's 2,387 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Mustang Ridge you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,387 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 1.7 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 Mustang Ridge-wide figureread your own land →
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