South Fork Estates, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Reliable performers under these conditions include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in South Fork Estates, 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 South Fork Estates 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 South Fork Estates — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
South Fork Estates — the short answer
South Fork Estates, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 329 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 25
- Jim Hogg County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 20
- Jim Hogg County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~329
- Jim Hogg County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town 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 Jim Hogg County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is South Fork Estates's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against South Fork Estates's 329-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in South Fork Estates
Each reading below is measured for South Fork Estates itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSouth Fork Estates runs about 329 days between hard freezes (read from Jim Hogg County, the closest normal to South Fork Estates) — 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
MeasuredSouth Fork Estates sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 South Fork Estates is in
South Fork Estates sits in the Southern Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at South Fork Estates's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Jim Hogg County is mostly Western Gulf Coastal Plain. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in South Fork Estates
Every plant below cleared South Fork Estates's own zone 9b and its 329-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in South Fork Estates?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 20 — 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.
What's on the federal record near South Fork Estates
Closest first, within ~10 miles of South Fork Estates. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NALCO HEBBRONVILLE TX FACILITYBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- CHAMPION TECHNOLOGIESToxics Release Inventory · 1.4 mi
- MULTI-CHEM GROUP HEBBRONVILLE TX FACILITYToxics Release Inventory · 1.5 mi
- M-I HEBBRONVILLEBrownfields · 3.5 mi
- THELMAS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- JIM HOGG COUNTY LAW ENFORCEMENT CNTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- RAMIREZ H & RAMIREZ FUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- TINAS MINI-MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- ROLDONS SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- GUARDIAN QUICK LUBEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- STACY WRECKER SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- SALINAS SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from South Fork Estates'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 South Fork Estates.
Total Sites
38
within ~10 miles of South Fork Estates
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of South Fork Estates
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of South Fork Estates
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around South Fork Estates, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of South Fork Estates — Toxics Release Inventory (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (25 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 South Fork Estates
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 South Fork Estates average
Your land is one point inside South Fork Estates
Everything above resolves to South Fork Estates as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Jim Hogg 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 South Fork Estates Average
South Fork Estates Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across South Fork Estates
- ●One soil character for all of South Fork Estates
- ●Frost dates read at South Fork Estates's scale: Jan 25 to Dec 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not South Fork Estates's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in South Fork Estates
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in South Fork Estates, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that South Fork Estates averages can't show:
We read public map data around South Fork Estates — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the South Fork Estates average
How we know this about South Fork Estates
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 Jim Hogg 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 South Fork Estates
When does frost risk typically end in South Fork Estates?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in South Fork Estates typically lands around Jan 25, 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 15.
When is the first frost in South Fork Estates?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in South Fork Estates typically arrives around Dec 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 6, so the watching starts about Nov 20 — about 329 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in South Fork Estates?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, South Fork Estates sees about 329 frost-free days — roughly Jan 25 through Dec 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 15 to Dec 6, about 294 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in South Fork Estates?
The federal record around South Fork Estates is light — 38 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (25), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.4 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 South Fork Estates?
From about Nov 20 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 20 (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 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at South Fork Estates's scale — its 9b band and its 329-day season. Your yard writes its own version of South Fork Estates'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 South Fork Estates’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at South Fork Estates's own scale — the 2,142 acres it covers and 38 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- South Fork Estates's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 38 documented contamination sites on the federal record near South Fork Estates, the closest Brownfields record about 1.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- South Fork Estates's boundary and the 2,142 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~329-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- South Fork Estates sits in the Southern Texas Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — South Fork Estates has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Jim Hogg County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so South Fork Estates's 2,142 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jim Hogg County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jim Hogg 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 Jim Hogg County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among South Fork Estates's 2,142 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of South Fork Estates you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,142 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 1.4 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 South Fork Estates-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasSouth Fork Estates sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides