Akron, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Akron, 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 Akron 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 Akron — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Akron — the short answer
Akron, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 276 days between hard freezes, across 439 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 25
- Hale County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- Hale County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~276
- Hale County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 439 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 Hale County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Akron's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Akron's 276-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Akron
Each reading below is measured for Akron itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsAkron runs about 276 days between hard freezes (read from Hale County, the closest normal to Akron) — 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
MeasuredAkron 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 Akron is in
Akron sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Akron's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hale County.
What Grows in Akron
Every plant below cleared Akron's own zone 8b and its 276-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Akron?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 28 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Akron
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Akron. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- AKRON COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- Well E 5 CITY OF AKRON 325248087442001 Hale CntyNitrate · 700 ft
- Well E-6 CITY OF AKRON Hale County AlNitrate · 1000 ft
- AKRON ELEMENTARY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- AKRON HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- AKRON COMMUNITY SCHOOL EASTBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- PAYNES GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- WILLIS STRICKLANDUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- AKRON TD-2 STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- Well NAWQA FLH 20 Hale County AlNitrate · 3.4 mi
- NAWQA FLH-20-1Nitrate · 3.6 mi
- PAYNE AND PAYNE FARMS INCORPCAFO · 3.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Akron'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 Akron.
Total Sites
99
within ~10 miles of Akron
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Akron
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Akron
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Akron, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Akron — CAFO (3 sites) and Nitrate (26 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Akron
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 Akron average
Your land is one point inside Akron
Everything above resolves to Akron as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 439 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hale 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 Akron Average
Akron Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Akron
- ●One soil character for all of Akron
- ●Frost dates read at Akron's scale: Feb 25 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Akron's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Akron
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Akron, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Akron averages can't show:
We read public map data around Akron — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Akron average
How we know this about Akron
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 Hale 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 Akron
When does frost risk typically end in Akron?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Akron typically lands around Feb 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 Mar 18.
When is the first frost in Akron?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Akron typically arrives around Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 14, so the watching starts about Oct 29 — about 276 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Akron?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Akron sees about 276 frost-free days — roughly Feb 25 through Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 18 to Nov 14, about 241 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Akron?
The federal record around Akron shows 99 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (56), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Akron?
From about Oct 29 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Akron's scale — its 8b band and its 276-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Akron'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 Akron’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Akron's own scale — the 439 acres it covers and 99 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Akron's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 99 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Akron, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Akron's boundary and the 439 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~276-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Akron's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Akron has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hale County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Akron's 439 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hale County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hale County
- The growing challenges every Alabama grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Alabama
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Hale County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Akron's 439 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Akron you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 439 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Akron-wide figureread your own land →
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