Moundville, 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.
These conditions suit cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Moundville, 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 Moundville 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 Moundville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Moundville — the short answer
Moundville, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 276 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 25
- Hale County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- Hale County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~276
- Hale County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Hale County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Moundville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Moundville's 276-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Moundville
Each reading below is measured for Moundville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMoundville runs about 276 days between hard freezes (read from Hale County, the closest normal to Moundville) — 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
MeasuredMoundville 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 Moundville is in
Moundville sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Moundville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hale County.
What Grows in Moundville
Every plant below cleared Moundville's own zone 8b and its 276-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Moundville?
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. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Moundville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Moundville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BILLY WIGGINS FORDUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- FIVE POINTS GROCERY & TACKLEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- MOUNDVILLE CITY SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Well ( C 4) CITY OF MOUNDVILLE Hale County AlNitrate · 1200 ft
- ZILDJIAN PERCUSSIONBrownfields · 1200 ft
- M&A FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Well C 3 325940087380001 Hale County AlNitrate · 1300 ft
- MOUNDVILLE GULFUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- WARRIOR BOX COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- MOUNDVILLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- HALE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 2100 ft
- FORMER GULF/CHEVRON TERMINAL 1289713Brownfields · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Moundville'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 Moundville.
Total Sites
72
within ~10 miles of Moundville
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Moundville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Moundville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Moundville, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Moundville — CAFO (3 sites) and Nitrate (22 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Moundville
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 Moundville average
Your land is one point inside Moundville
Everything above resolves to Moundville as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hale 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 Moundville Average
Moundville Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Moundville
- ●One soil character for all of Moundville
- ●Frost dates read at Moundville's scale: Feb 25 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Moundville's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Moundville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Moundville, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Moundville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Moundville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Moundville average
How we know this about Moundville
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 Hale 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 Moundville
When does frost risk typically end in Moundville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Moundville 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 Moundville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Moundville typically arrives around Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 14, so the watching starts about Oct 29 — about 276 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Moundville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Moundville 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 Moundville?
The federal record around Moundville shows 72 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (31), 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 Moundville?
From about Oct 29 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Moundville's scale — its 8b band and its 276-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Moundville'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 Moundville’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Moundville's own scale — the 2,951 acres it covers and 72 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Moundville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 72 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Moundville, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Moundville's boundary and the 2,951 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~276-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Moundville's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Moundville has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hale County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Moundville's 2,951 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hale County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hale 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 Hale County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Moundville's 2,951 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Moundville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,951 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 Moundville-wide figureread your own land →
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