Cabell County, in West Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
These conditions suit cabbage, hazelnut, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Cabell County lies within the Kanawha / Ohio Valley (Metro Valley) and Appalachia — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Cabell County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Cabell County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Cabell County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Cabell County — the short answer
Cabell County, West Virginia: USDA zone 7a, about 215 days between hard freezes, across 180K acres.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~215
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 180K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 Cabell County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cabell County's 215-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Cabell County
Across a year, Cabell County accumulates about 3,606 growing degree days above 50°F, about 596 more than the middle West Virginia county — ahead of 52 of West Virginia’s 55 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Cabell County
Across Cabell County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Gilpin, Upshur, and Dormont are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.7–5.3, very strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
8%
Hydric soils
0%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Cabell County
The USDA soil survey maps 86% of Cabell County as well drained — but another 7% drains differently: 6% moderately well drained, 1% somewhat poorly drained.
Gilpin is the most extensive named soil at 55% of mapped acres, then Upshur (22%) and Dormont (4%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Cabell County
Each reading below is measured for Cabell County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Cabell County are well drained, in hydrologic group C — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Cabell County runs about pH 4.7–5.3, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredCabell County runs about 215 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
MeasuredCabell County 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 Cabell County is in
Cabell County sits in the Western Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Cabell County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Cabell County's own USDA zone 7a and its own 215-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's West Virginia profile.
Is it too late to plant in Cabell County?
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 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 4 — 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.
Documented around Cabell County
Survey cells within 31 miles of Cabell County checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 111 miles off. What to watch for.
- Japanese beetle4 documented records
- monarch butterfly9 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Cabell County
USGS estimates 2,190 lb of Triclopyr on Cabell County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Glyphosate (1,652 lb) and 2,4-d (564 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Cabell County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Cabell County — 646 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 6 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Cabell County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Cabell County
Closest first, across Cabell County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DONAHUE BROTHERS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- LITTLE GENERAL STORE #5060Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- PETROLEUM LOCATION SS (RO)7304Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE #10597Brownfields · 0.9 mi
- SUPERIOR OLDSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- BARBOURSVILLE EXXON ONE STOP #503Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- SHEETZ # 419Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- EXXON ONE STOP #504Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- DICK'S SPORTING GOODS #1589Brownfields · 1.0 mi
- SHEETZ #419Brownfields · 1.0 mi
- BEST BUY STORE #573Brownfields · 1.0 mi
- HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS USA INC #898Brownfields · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cabell County'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 Cabell County.
Total Sites
646
across Cabell County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
6 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Cabell County
Severity Distribution
across Cabell County
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Cabell County
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 Cabell County average
Your land is one point inside Cabell County
Everything above resolves to Cabell County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 180K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Cabell County Average
Cabell County Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Cabell County
- ●One soil character for all of Cabell County
- ●Frost dates read at Cabell County's scale: Apr 3 to Nov 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cabell County's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Cabell County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cabell County, West Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cabell County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cabell County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cabell County average
How we know this about Cabell County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Cabell County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Cabell County
When does frost risk typically end in Cabell County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cabell County typically lands around Apr 3, 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 24.
How long is the growing season in Cabell County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cabell County sees about 215 frost-free days — roughly Apr 3 through Nov 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 24 to Oct 21, about 180 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cabell County?
The federal record around Cabell County is a meaningful one — 646 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (363), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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.
Everything above is measured at Cabell County's scale — its 7a band and its 215-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cabell County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads West Virginia's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Cabell County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Cabell County's own scale — its own ~215-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 646 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cabell County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Cabell County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~215-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Cabell CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 646 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Cabell County's boundary and the 179,856 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~215-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Cabell County sitting wholly inside the Western Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Cabell County for 2 tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Cabell County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every West Virginia grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom West Virginia
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Cabell County — the ~215 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cabell County's 179,856 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 646 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Cabell Countyread your own land →