Hartford, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hartford, 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 Hartford 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 Hartford — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Hartford — the short answer
Hartford, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 274 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 25
- Geneva County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Geneva County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~274
- Geneva County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 4K 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 Geneva County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Hartford's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hartford's 274-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hartford
Each reading below is measured for Hartford itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHartford runs about 274 days between hard freezes (read from Geneva County, the closest normal to Hartford) — 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
MeasuredHartford 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 Hartford is in
Hartford sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Hartford's own centroid rather than borrowed from Geneva County.
What Grows in Hartford
Every plant below cleared Hartford'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 Hartford?
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 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 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 Hartford
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hartford. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WIREGRASS ELECTRIC COOP INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- BRANNON BROS FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- TATES SUPERMARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- PALMER'S GULF SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- COUNTY SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- BROXSON'S GROCERY & SSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- GOMTIBEN INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- IMC FERTILIZER INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- GENEVA COUNTY HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- SUN VALLEY #622Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- HARTFORD WATER WORKSPFAS · 1.2 mi
- GENEVA WATER WORKSPFAS · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hartford'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 Hartford.
Total Sites
76
within ~10 miles of Hartford
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
18 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hartford
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hartford
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hartford, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Hartford — CAFO (18 sites) and PFAS (5 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Hartford
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 Hartford average
Your land is one point inside Hartford
Everything above resolves to Hartford as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Geneva 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 Hartford Average
Hartford Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Hartford
- ●One soil character for all of Hartford
- ●Frost dates read at Hartford's scale: Feb 25 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hartford's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hartford
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hartford, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hartford averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hartford — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hartford average
How we know this about Hartford
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 Geneva 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 Hartford
When does frost risk typically end in Hartford?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hartford 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.
When is the first frost in Hartford?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hartford 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 274 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hartford?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hartford sees about 274 frost-free days — roughly Feb 25 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 18 to Nov 12, about 239 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hartford?
The federal record around Hartford shows 76 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (45), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Hartford?
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 Hartford's scale — its 8b band and its 274-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hartford'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 Hartford’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Hartford's own scale — the 3,991 acres it covers and 76 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hartford's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 76 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hartford, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hartford's boundary and the 3,991 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 Hartford's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Hartford has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Geneva County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hartford's 3,991 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Geneva County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Geneva 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 Geneva County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hartford's 3,991 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hartford you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,991 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Hartford-wide figureread your own land →
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