New Brockton, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in New Brockton, 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 New Brockton 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 New Brockton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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New Brockton — the short answer
New Brockton, Alabama: USDA zone 9a, about 286 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 18
- Coffee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 1
- Coffee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~286
- Coffee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 5K 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 Coffee County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is New Brockton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against New Brockton's 286-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in New Brockton
Each reading below is measured for New Brockton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsNew Brockton runs about 286 days between hard freezes (read from Coffee County, the closest normal to New Brockton) — 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
MeasuredNew Brockton sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 New Brockton is in
New Brockton sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at New Brockton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Coffee County.
What Grows in New Brockton
Every plant below cleared New Brockton's own zone 9a and its 286-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in New Brockton?
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 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 1 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near New Brockton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of New Brockton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HUT HAYS 66 (DOROTHY HAYS)Underground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- JONES GROCERY & GASUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- FT PAUL L SAWYER JR ARNG ARMORYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- COFFEE COUNTY LANDFILLToxics Release Inventory · 1600 ft
- COFFEE COUNTY HIGHWAY DEPARTMENTBrownfields · 1800 ft
- COFFEE COUNTY HIGHWAY DEPT.Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- STUCKEY'SUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- COFFEE COUNTY SANITARY LANDFILLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- LEWIS AMOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- INLAND #611Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- JR FOOD STORE #264Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- BUS SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from New Brockton'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 New Brockton.
Total Sites
203
within ~10 miles of New Brockton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
13 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of New Brockton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of New Brockton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around New Brockton, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of New Brockton — CAFO (24 sites) and PFAS (3 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 New Brockton
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 New Brockton average
Your land is one point inside New Brockton
Everything above resolves to New Brockton as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 5K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Coffee 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 New Brockton Average
New Brockton Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across New Brockton
- ●One soil character for all of New Brockton
- ●Frost dates read at New Brockton's scale: Feb 18 to Dec 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not New Brockton's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in New Brockton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in New Brockton, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that New Brockton averages can't show:
We read public map data around New Brockton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the New Brockton average
How we know this about New Brockton
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 Coffee 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 New Brockton
When does frost risk typically end in New Brockton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in New Brockton typically lands around Feb 18, 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 11.
When is the first frost in New Brockton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in New Brockton typically arrives around Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 17, so the watching starts about Nov 1 — about 286 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in New Brockton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, New Brockton sees about 286 frost-free days — roughly Feb 18 through Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 11 to Nov 17, about 251 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in New Brockton?
The federal record around New Brockton is a meaningful one — 203 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (127), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 New Brockton?
From about Nov 1 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 Dec 1 (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 Dec 1. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at New Brockton's scale — its 9a band and its 286-day season. Your yard writes its own version of New Brockton'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 New Brockton’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at New Brockton's own scale — the 5,105 acres it covers and 203 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- New Brockton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 203 documented contamination sites on the federal record near New Brockton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- New Brockton's boundary and the 5,105 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~286-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at New Brockton's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — New Brockton has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Coffee County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so New Brockton's 5,105 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Coffee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Coffee 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 Coffee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among New Brockton's 5,105 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of New Brockton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,105 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 New Brockton-wide figureread your own land →