Holt, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Holt, 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 Holt 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 Holt — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Holt — the short answer
Holt, Alabama: USDA zone 8a, about 262 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 5
- Tuscaloosa County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 22
- Tuscaloosa County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~262
- Tuscaloosa 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 Tuscaloosa County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Holt's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Holt's 262-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Holt
Each reading below is measured for Holt itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHolt runs about 262 days between hard freezes (read from Tuscaloosa County, the closest normal to Holt) — 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
MeasuredHolt 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 Holt is in
Holt sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Holt's own centroid rather than borrowed from Tuscaloosa County.
What Grows in Holt
Every plant below cleared Holt's own zone 8a and its 262-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Holt?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 22 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Holt
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Holt. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SMOKER'S OUTLETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- T A HILL DBA HOLT STEEL ERECTORSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- BILLY ANDREWS PAINT & BODYBrownfields · 2500 ft
- SUMNER GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- US/DOC - CENTRAL FOUNDRY/SBASuperfund · 0.5 mi
- KARAN & KIRAN FOOD MART LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- HOLT HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- HOWARD DAVIS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- REICHHOLD CHEMICALS INCSuperfund · 0.6 mi
- ZIPPY MART AL 503Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- FAST & EASY #3Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- WARRIOR PRECISION REPAIRBrownfields · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Holt'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 Holt.
Total Sites
809
within ~10 miles of Holt
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
11 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Holt
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Holt
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Holt, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 11 sites within ~10 miles of Holt. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Holt
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 Holt average
Your land is one point inside Holt
Everything above resolves to Holt as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Tuscaloosa 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 Holt Average
Holt Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Holt
- ●One soil character for all of Holt
- ●Frost dates read at Holt's scale: Mar 5 to Nov 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Holt's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Holt
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Holt, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Holt averages can't show:
We read public map data around Holt — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Holt average
How we know this about Holt
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 Tuscaloosa 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 Holt
When does frost risk typically end in Holt?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Holt typically lands around Mar 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Holt?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Holt typically arrives around Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 8, so the watching starts about Oct 23 — about 262 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Holt?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Holt sees about 262 frost-free days — roughly Mar 5 through Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 26 to Nov 8, about 227 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Holt?
The federal record around Holt is a meaningful one — 809 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (491), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Holt?
From about Oct 23 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Holt's scale — its 8a band and its 262-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Holt'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 Holt’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Holt's own scale — the 2,025 acres it covers and 809 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Holt's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 809 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Holt, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Holt's boundary and the 2,025 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~262-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Holt's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Holt has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Tuscaloosa County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Holt's 2,025 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Tuscaloosa County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Tuscaloosa 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 Tuscaloosa County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Holt's 2,025 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Holt you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,025 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 Holt-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alabama
Wider growing context
What grows across AlabamaHolt sits outside our named growing regions, so Alabama as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides