Andalusia, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Andalusia, 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 Andalusia 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 Andalusia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Andalusia — the short answer
Andalusia, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 287 days between hard freezes, across 13K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 19
- Covington County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 3
- Covington County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~287
- Covington County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 13K 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 Covington County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Andalusia's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Andalusia's 287-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Andalusia
Each reading below is measured for Andalusia itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsAndalusia runs about 287 days between hard freezes (read from Covington County, the closest normal to Andalusia) — 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
MeasuredAndalusia 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 Andalusia is in
Andalusia sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Andalusia's own centroid rather than borrowed from Covington County.
What Grows in Andalusia
Every plant below cleared Andalusia's own zone 8b and its 287-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Andalusia?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 3 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Andalusia
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Andalusia. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- EAST THREE NOTCH STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- FAIRFIELD GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- CHARLES DIXON COUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- ADAMS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- W K EDGAR'S STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- HEATH SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- PHILLIPS 66 CO #043067Underground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- L & M GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- PHILLIPS 66 CO #040652Underground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- BARTON SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- PHILLIPS 66 CO #040653Underground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- MINI MART INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Andalusia'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 Andalusia.
Total Sites
167
within ~10 miles of Andalusia
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Andalusia
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Andalusia
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Andalusia, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Andalusia — CAFO (7 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (117 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Andalusia
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 Andalusia average
Your land is one point inside Andalusia
Everything above resolves to Andalusia as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 13K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Covington 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 Andalusia Average
Andalusia Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Andalusia
- ●One soil character for all of Andalusia
- ●Frost dates read at Andalusia's scale: Feb 19 to Dec 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Andalusia's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Andalusia
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Andalusia, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Andalusia averages can't show:
We read public map data around Andalusia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Andalusia average
How we know this about Andalusia
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 Covington 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 Andalusia
When does frost risk typically end in Andalusia?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Andalusia typically lands around Feb 19, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Andalusia?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Andalusia typically arrives around Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 19, so the watching starts about Nov 3 — about 287 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Andalusia?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Andalusia sees about 287 frost-free days — roughly Feb 19 through Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 12 to Nov 19, about 252 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Andalusia?
The federal record around Andalusia shows 167 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (117), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles 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 Andalusia?
From about Nov 3 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 3 (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 3. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Andalusia's scale — its 8b band and its 287-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Andalusia'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 Andalusia’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Andalusia's own scale — the 12,681 acres it covers and 167 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Andalusia's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 167 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Andalusia, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Andalusia's boundary and the 12,681 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~287-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Andalusia's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Andalusia has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Covington County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Andalusia's 12,681 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Covington County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Covington 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 Covington County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Andalusia's 12,681 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Andalusia you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 12,681 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Andalusia-wide figureread your own land →