Peterman, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Peterman, 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 Peterman 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 Peterman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Peterman — the short answer
Peterman, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 284 days between hard freezes, across 271 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 20
- Monroe County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 1
- Monroe County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~284
- Monroe County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 271 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 Monroe County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Peterman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Peterman's 284-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Peterman
Each reading below is measured for Peterman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPeterman runs about 284 days between hard freezes (read from Monroe County, the closest normal to Peterman) — 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
MeasuredPeterman 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 Peterman is in
Peterman sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Peterman's own centroid rather than borrowed from Monroe County.
What Grows in Peterman
Every plant below cleared Peterman's own zone 8b and its 284-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Peterman?
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 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 20 (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 Peterman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Peterman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SOUTHWEST AL WATER & FIRE PROTECTIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- C&W GAS AND GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- PETERMAN BRANCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- PAC (PETERMAN AGRICULTURAL CENTER)Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- GEORGIA PACIFIC WOOD PRODUCTS LLCToxics Release Inventory · 1.0 mi
- MCGRAW'S H A GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- MONROEVILLE PARTICLE BOARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- Well U 4 313217087184001 Monroe County AlNitrate · 4.2 mi
- DRIVER GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- ECON #8Underground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- WOODROW MOSLEYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- STEADMAN GENERAL STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Peterman'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 Peterman.
Total Sites
111
within ~10 miles of Peterman
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
7 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Peterman
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Peterman
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Peterman, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Peterman — Underground Storage Tanks (74 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (7 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Peterman
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 Peterman average
Your land is one point inside Peterman
Everything above resolves to Peterman as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 271 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Monroe 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 Peterman Average
Peterman Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Peterman
- ●One soil character for all of Peterman
- ●Frost dates read at Peterman's scale: Feb 20 to Dec 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Peterman's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Peterman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Peterman, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Peterman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Peterman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Peterman average
How we know this about Peterman
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 Monroe 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 Peterman
When does frost risk typically end in Peterman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Peterman typically lands around Feb 20, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Peterman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Peterman 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 284 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Peterman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Peterman sees about 284 frost-free days — roughly Feb 20 through Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 13 to Nov 17, about 249 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Peterman?
The federal record around Peterman shows 111 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (74), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Peterman?
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 Peterman's scale — its 8b band and its 284-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Peterman'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 Peterman’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Peterman's own scale — the 271 acres it covers and 111 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Peterman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 111 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Peterman, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Peterman's boundary and the 271 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~284-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Peterman's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Peterman has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Monroe County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Peterman's 271 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Monroe County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Monroe 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 Monroe County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Peterman's 271 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Peterman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 271 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Peterman-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alabama
Wider growing context
What grows across AlabamaPeterman sits outside our named growing regions, so Alabama as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides