Chatom, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Chatom, 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 Chatom 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 Chatom — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Chatom — the short answer
Chatom, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 274 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 26
- Washington County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- Washington County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~274
- Washington County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 7K 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 Washington County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Chatom's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Chatom's 274-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Chatom
Each reading below is measured for Chatom itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsChatom runs about 274 days between hard freezes (read from Washington County, the closest normal to Chatom) — 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
MeasuredChatom 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 Chatom is in
Chatom sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Chatom's own centroid rather than borrowed from Washington County.
What Grows in Chatom
Every plant below cleared Chatom's own zone 8b and its 274-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Chatom?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 27 — 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 Chatom
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Chatom. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WASHINGTON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATIONBrownfields · 1700 ft
- DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION HWYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- REYNOLDS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- REAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- TATES SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- GOCO'S #4Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- HEARN FORD INCBrownfields · 2600 ft
- CHATOM CITGOUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- SERVCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- JORDAN MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Well P 4 312742088151001 Washington County AlNitrate · 0.6 mi
- Well P-3 TOWN OF CHATOM Washington County AlNitrate · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Chatom'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 Chatom.
Total Sites
41
within ~10 miles of Chatom
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Chatom
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Chatom
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Chatom, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 29 sites within ~10 miles of Chatom. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Chatom
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 Chatom average
Your land is one point inside Chatom
Everything above resolves to Chatom as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 7K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Washington 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 Chatom Average
Chatom Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Chatom
- ●One soil character for all of Chatom
- ●Frost dates read at Chatom's scale: Feb 26 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Chatom's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Chatom
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Chatom, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Chatom averages can't show:
We read public map data around Chatom — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Chatom average
How we know this about Chatom
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 Washington 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 Chatom
When does frost risk typically end in Chatom?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Chatom typically lands around Feb 26, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Chatom?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Chatom typically arrives around Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 13, so the watching starts about Oct 28 — about 274 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Chatom?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Chatom sees about 274 frost-free days — roughly Feb 26 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 19 to Nov 13, about 239 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Chatom?
The federal record around Chatom is light — 41 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (29), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Chatom?
From about Oct 28 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Chatom's scale — its 8b band and its 274-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Chatom'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 Chatom’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Chatom's own scale — the 6,862 acres it covers and 41 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Chatom's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 41 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Chatom, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Chatom's boundary and the 6,862 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~274-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Chatom's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Chatom has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Washington County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Chatom's 6,862 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Washington County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Washington 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 Washington County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Chatom's 6,862 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Chatom you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 6,862 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Chatom-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alabama
Wider growing context
What grows across AlabamaChatom sits outside our named growing regions, so Alabama as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides