Greene County, in 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.
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.
Greene County lies within the Black Belt — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Greene County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Greene 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 Greene County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Greene County — the short answer
Greene County, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 276 days between hard freezes, across 414K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~276
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 414K 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 8b is Greene County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Greene County's 276-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Greene County
Across a year, Greene County accumulates about 5,408 growing degree days above 50°F, about 124 more than the middle Alabama county — ahead of 39 of Alabama’s 67 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.
Winter banks about 1,236 hours below 45°F, 12 fewer than the Alabama middle of 1,248. Chill is what tells a fruit tree its dormancy is over, and it is set by climate rather than by anything you can build.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Greene County
Across Greene County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Shubuta, Falaya, and Magnolia are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally moderately well drained with a fine sandy loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.0–5.5, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Moderately well drained
Prime farmland
36%
Hydric soils
15%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Greene County
The USDA soil survey maps 36% of Greene County as moderately well drained — but another 59% drains differently: 28% well drained, 15% poorly drained.
Shubuta is the most extensive named soil at 11% of mapped acres, then Falaya (9%) and Magnolia (8%).
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 Greene County
Each reading below is measured for Greene 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 Greene County are moderately well drained, in hydrologic group C — roughly the middle of the drainage range.
This is close to the middle most vegetables prefer: it holds enough water to carry a crop between rains without staying waterlogged. The catch is that a wet spring or a low corner can still tip it soggy.
Plant on the site as-is for most crops, but keep the lowest, slowest-draining beds for moisture-tolerant plantings.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Greene County runs about pH 5.0–5.5, 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
Wet ground
MeasuredAbout 15% of Greene County is mapped as hydric — wetland — soil.
If your lot falls in one of those pockets, a standard in-ground bed will fight waterlogging all season, and roots that need air will struggle.
Check how your own ground drains before you dig; raised beds or moisture-loving plantings turn a wet corner from a problem into a niche.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredGreene County runs about 276 days between hard freezes — 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
The kind of country Greene County is in
Greene County sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Greene County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Greene County's own USDA zone 8b and its own 276-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 Alabama profile.
Is it too late to plant in Greene County?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What gets applied to farmland in Greene County
USGS estimates 8,544 lb of 2,4-d on Greene County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Glyphosate (1,307 lb) and Dicamba (938 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 Greene County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Greene County — 117 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 1 Superfund site (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 Greene 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 Greene County
Closest first, across Greene County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Well (Q-9) Greene County AlNitrate · 1.0 mi
- EUTAW MARATHONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- KING GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- Well NAWQA FLH 12 Greene County AlNitrate · 3.1 mi
- GREENE COUNTY SCHOOL BUS SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- C BROWN GULF SERUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- WEST END GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- FT NATHANIEL GREENE CANTEEN 168TH COUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- GREENE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 3.9 mi
- Well (V-8) JAMES OZEMENT Greene Cnty ALNitrate · 4.0 mi
- SPRINGFIELD FIRE TOWERUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- EUTAW MAIN - 12524Underground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Greene 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 Greene County.
Total Sites
117
across Greene County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Greene County
Severity Distribution
across Greene County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Greene County, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 38 sites across Greene County. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Greene 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 Greene County average
Your land is one point inside Greene County
Everything above resolves to Greene County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 414K 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 Greene County Average
Greene County Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Greene County
- ●One soil character for all of Greene County
- ●Frost dates read at Greene County's scale: Feb 25 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Greene County's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Greene County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Greene County, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Greene County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Greene County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Greene County average
How we know this about Greene 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 Greene County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Greene County
When does frost risk typically end in Greene County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Greene County 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.
How long is the growing season in Greene County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Greene County 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 Greene County?
The federal record around Greene County is a meaningful one — 117 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (65), the nearest Nitrate record about 1.0 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 Greene County's scale — its 8b band and its 276-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Greene 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 Alabama's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Greene County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Greene County's own scale — its own ~276-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 117 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Greene County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Greene County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~276-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Greene CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 117 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Nitrate record about 1.0 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Greene County's boundary and the 414,094 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~276-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Greene County sitting wholly inside the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Greene County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Alabama grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Alabama
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Greene County — the ~276 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 Greene County's 414,094 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 117 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 Greene Countyread your own land →