Cusseta, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Cusseta, 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 Cusseta 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 Cusseta — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Cusseta — the short answer
Cusseta, Alabama: USDA zone 8a, about 243 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 16
- Chambers County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 14
- Chambers County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~243
- Chambers 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 Chambers County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Cusseta's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cusseta's 243-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cusseta
Each reading below is measured for Cusseta itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCusseta runs about 243 days between hard freezes (read from Chambers County, the closest normal to Cusseta) — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredCusseta sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Cusseta is in
Cusseta sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Cusseta's own centroid rather than borrowed from Chambers County.
What Grows in Cusseta
Every plant below cleared Cusseta's own zone 8a and its 243-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cusseta?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 14 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
What's on the federal record near Cusseta
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cusseta. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CUSSETA SUPERETTEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- WALTER EASTRIDGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- CUSSETA TRAVEL PLAZAUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- ESTES EXPRESS LINESBrownfields · 3.4 mi
- B & C GROCERY -BIG CATUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- BOWMAN TRANSPORTATION INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- OIL SOUTH BULK PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- J T CATTLE COUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- DAEDONG HI-LEX OF AMERICABrownfields · 3.7 mi
- DAEDONG HI-LEX OF AMERICAToxics Release Inventory · 3.7 mi
- GREAT LAKES METAL STAMPING INCBrownfields · 3.9 mi
- JRS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cusseta'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 Cusseta.
Total Sites
264
within ~10 miles of Cusseta
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Cusseta
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cusseta
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Cusseta, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Cusseta — PFAS (5 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (22 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Cusseta
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 Cusseta average
Your land is one point inside Cusseta
Everything above resolves to Cusseta as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Chambers 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 Cusseta Average
Cusseta Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Cusseta
- ●One soil character for all of Cusseta
- ●Frost dates read at Cusseta's scale: Mar 16 to Nov 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cusseta's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cusseta
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cusseta, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cusseta averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cusseta — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cusseta average
How we know this about Cusseta
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 Chambers 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 Cusseta
When does frost risk typically end in Cusseta?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cusseta typically lands around Mar 16, 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 Apr 6.
When is the first frost in Cusseta?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cusseta typically arrives around Nov 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 31, so the watching starts about Oct 15 — about 243 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cusseta?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cusseta sees about 243 frost-free days — roughly Mar 16 through Nov 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 6 to Oct 31, about 208 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cusseta?
The federal record around Cusseta is a meaningful one — 264 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (191), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Cusseta?
From about Oct 15 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 14 (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 14. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Cusseta's scale — its 8a band and its 243-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cusseta'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 Cusseta’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Cusseta's own scale — the 1,680 acres it covers and 264 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cusseta's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 264 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cusseta, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cusseta's boundary and the 1,680 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~243-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Cusseta's own centroid, the PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Cusseta has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Chambers County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Cusseta's 1,680 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Chambers County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Chambers 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 Chambers County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cusseta's 1,680 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cusseta you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,680 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Cusseta-wide figureread your own land →
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