Nixburg, 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.
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 Nixburg, 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 Nixburg 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 Nixburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Nixburg — the short answer
Nixburg, Alabama: USDA zone 8a, about 262 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 7
- Coosa County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 24
- Coosa County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~262
- Coosa 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 Coosa County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Nixburg's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Nixburg's 262-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Nixburg
Each reading below is measured for Nixburg itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsNixburg runs about 262 days between hard freezes (read from Coosa County, the closest normal to Nixburg) — 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
MeasuredNixburg 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 Nixburg is in
Nixburg sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Nixburg's own centroid rather than borrowed from Coosa County.
What Grows in Nixburg
Every plant below cleared Nixburg'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 Nixburg?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 24 — 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 Nixburg
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Nixburg. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CENTRAL ALABAMA WOOD PRODUCTS, LLCToxics Release Inventory · 1600 ft
- KIMBERLY CLARK CORP NIXBURGUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- OLD GOLDEN RULEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Well L 14 335120086073501 Coosa County AlNitrate · 1.4 mi
- LOWES GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- SIMS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- BRANTS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- GERALD SCOTTUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- Well T 5 324710086064001 Coosa County AlNitrate · 4.2 mi
- TRANSCONTINENTAL GAS PIPE LINE COMPANY LLCBrownfields · 4.9 mi
- QUALITY FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.4 mi
- ROBERT L. HUGHES CO.Underground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Nixburg'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 Nixburg.
Total Sites
122
within ~10 miles of Nixburg
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Nixburg
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Nixburg
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Nixburg, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Nixburg — Underground Storage Tanks (82 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (8 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Nixburg
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 Nixburg average
Your land is one point inside Nixburg
Everything above resolves to Nixburg as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 5K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Coosa 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 Nixburg Average
Nixburg Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Nixburg
- ●One soil character for all of Nixburg
- ●Frost dates read at Nixburg's scale: Mar 7 to Nov 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Nixburg's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Nixburg
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Nixburg, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Nixburg averages can't show:
We read public map data around Nixburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Nixburg average
How we know this about Nixburg
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 Coosa 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 Nixburg
When does frost risk typically end in Nixburg?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Nixburg typically lands around Mar 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in Nixburg?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Nixburg typically arrives around Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 10, so the watching starts about Oct 25 — about 262 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Nixburg?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Nixburg sees about 262 frost-free days — roughly Mar 7 through Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 28 to Nov 10, about 227 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Nixburg?
The federal record around Nixburg is a meaningful one — 122 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (82), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.3 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 Nixburg?
From about Oct 25 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Nixburg's scale — its 8a band and its 262-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Nixburg'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 Nixburg’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Nixburg's own scale — the 4,776 acres it covers and 122 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Nixburg's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 122 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Nixburg, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Nixburg's boundary and the 4,776 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 Nixburg's own centroid, the PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Nixburg has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Coosa County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Nixburg's 4,776 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Coosa County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Coosa 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 Coosa County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Nixburg's 4,776 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Nixburg you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,776 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.3 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 Nixburg-wide figureread your own land →
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