Olton, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Olton, 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 Olton 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 Olton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Olton — the short answer
Olton, Texas: USDA zone 7a, about 222 days between hard freezes, across 870 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 31
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~222
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 870 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 7a is Olton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Olton's 222-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Olton
Each reading below is measured for Olton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredOlton runs about 222 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
MeasuredOlton sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Olton is in
Olton sits in the High Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Olton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lamb County.
What Grows in Olton
Every plant below cleared Olton's own zone 7a and its 222-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Olton?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 31 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 8 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
What's on the federal record near Olton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Olton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WESLEY J LUCUSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- BIZZELL TIRE & SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ALLSUPS 115Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- AG PRODUCERS COOP OLTONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- OLTON CO-OP GINUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- PETERSON FARMSBrownfields · 4.5 mi
- CATTLEMENS FEEDLOTCAFO · 4.6 mi
- RU-10-55-407Nitrate · 6.3 mi
- V B RANCHCAFO · 6.9 mi
- RU-10-63-407 (SAL-215)Nitrate · 9.7 mi
- GAVILON AG SERVICES, LLC HALE CENTERBrownfields · 9.7 mi
Measured from Olton'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 Olton.
Total Sites
13
within ~10 miles of Olton
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Olton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Olton
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 Olton
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 Olton average
Your land is one point inside Olton
Everything above resolves to Olton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 870 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 Olton Average
Olton Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Olton
- ●One soil character for all of Olton
- ●Frost dates read at Olton's scale: Mar 31 to Nov 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Olton's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Olton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Olton, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Olton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Olton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Olton average
How we know this about Olton
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 Olton’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 Olton
When does frost risk typically end in Olton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Olton typically lands around Mar 31, 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 21.
When is the first frost in Olton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Olton typically arrives around Nov 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 25, so the watching starts about Oct 9 — about 222 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Olton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Olton sees about 222 frost-free days — roughly Mar 31 through Nov 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 21 to Oct 25, about 187 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Olton?
The federal record around Olton is light — 13 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (5), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Olton?
From about Oct 9 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 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 Nov 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Olton's scale — its 7a band and its 222-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Olton'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 Olton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Olton's own scale — its own ~222-day season between 28°F freezes, the 870 acres it covers and 13 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Olton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Olton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 31 and Nov 8 and the ~222-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 13 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Olton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Olton's boundary and the 870 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~222-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Olton's own centroid, the High PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Olton's 870 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lamb County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lamb 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 Lamb County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Olton's 870 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Olton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 870 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Olton-wide figureread your own land →