Boykin, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Boykin, 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 Boykin 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 Boykin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Boykin — the short answer
Boykin, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 276 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Wilcox County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Wilcox County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~276
- Wilcox 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 Wilcox County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Boykin's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Boykin's 276-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Boykin
Each reading below is measured for Boykin itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBoykin runs about 276 days between hard freezes (read from Wilcox County, the closest normal to Boykin) — 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
MeasuredBoykin 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 Boykin is in
Boykin sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Boykin's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wilcox County.
What Grows in Boykin
Every plant below cleared Boykin'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 Boykin?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 26 — 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 Boykin
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Boykin. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- COVINGTON COUNTY WATER AUTHORITYPFAS · 25 ft
- ALBERTA SER STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- PROPERTY OF HANSEL HODGESBrownfields · 2.3 mi
- SPORTSMENS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- CAMDEN RADIO RELAY TOWER - 16499Underground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- Well O 38 Well 2 Near Camden Al Wilcox County AlNitrate · 4.2 mi
- LAMBERT SEED & SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
- LOFTIN'S BAIT SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- LOWER COASTAL PLAIN SUBSTATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
- H O ROGERS OIL CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
- BONES GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.7 mi
- BILLYS CORNER GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Boykin'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 Boykin.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Boykin
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Boykin
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Boykin, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Boykin — PFAS (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (45 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Boykin
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 Boykin average
Your land is one point inside Boykin
Everything above resolves to Boykin as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Wilcox 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 Boykin Average
Boykin Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Boykin
- ●One soil character for all of Boykin
- ●Frost dates read at Boykin's scale: Feb 23 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Boykin's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Boykin
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Boykin, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Boykin averages can't show:
We read public map data around Boykin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Boykin average
How we know this about Boykin
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 Wilcox 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 Boykin
When does frost risk typically end in Boykin?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Boykin typically lands around Feb 23, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Boykin?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Boykin typically arrives around Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 12, so the watching starts about Oct 27 — about 276 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Boykin?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Boykin sees about 276 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 12, about 241 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Boykin?
The federal record around Boykin is a meaningful one — 64 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (45), the nearest PFAS record under a tenth of a mile 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Boykin?
From about Oct 27 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Boykin's scale — its 8b band and its 276-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Boykin'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 Boykin’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Boykin's own scale — the 1,789 acres it covers and 64 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Boykin's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 64 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Boykin, the closest PFAS record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Boykin's boundary and the 1,789 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 Boykin's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Boykin has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Wilcox County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Boykin's 1,789 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wilcox County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wilcox 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 Wilcox County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Boykin's 1,789 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Boykin you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,789 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest PFAS 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 Boykin-wide figureread your own land →
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