Scottsboro, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Scottsboro, 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 Scottsboro 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 Scottsboro — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Scottsboro — the short answer
Scottsboro, Alabama: USDA zone 8a, about 239 days between hard freezes, across 32K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~239
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 32K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Scottsboro's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Scottsboro's 239-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Scottsboro
Each reading below is measured for Scottsboro itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredScottsboro runs about 239 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredScottsboro 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 Scottsboro is in
Scottsboro sits in the Southwestern Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Scottsboro's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jackson County.
What Grows in Scottsboro
Every plant below cleared Scottsboro's own zone 8a and its 239-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Scottsboro?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
What's on the federal record near Scottsboro
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Scottsboro. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KMART #9639Underground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Circle K #2723686Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- SCOTTSBORO BD OF EDUC MAINTENANCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- SCOTTSBORO FINA MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- RACEWAY #0986 SCOOTSBOROUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- COLLINS FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- VICTORY FUELSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- JACKSON COUNTY PARK MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- JACKSON COUNTY HOSPITALUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- GERRY'S BROAD STREET MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- COUNTY PARK CHEVRON FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- CHEVRON USA INC-0041340Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Scottsboro'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 Scottsboro.
Total Sites
188
within ~10 miles of Scottsboro
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Scottsboro
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Scottsboro
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Scottsboro, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Scottsboro — CAFO (5 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (132 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Scottsboro
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 Scottsboro average
Your land is one point inside Scottsboro
Everything above resolves to Scottsboro as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 32K acres. 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 city 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 Scottsboro Average
Scottsboro Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Scottsboro
- ●One soil character for all of Scottsboro
- ●Frost dates read at Scottsboro's scale: Mar 18 to Nov 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Scottsboro's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Scottsboro
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Scottsboro, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Scottsboro averages can't show:
We read public map data around Scottsboro — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Scottsboro average
How we know this about Scottsboro
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Scottsboro’s own record; 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Scottsboro
When does frost risk typically end in Scottsboro?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Scottsboro typically lands around Mar 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 Apr 8.
When is the first frost in Scottsboro?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Scottsboro typically arrives around Nov 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 29, so the watching starts about Oct 13 — about 239 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Scottsboro?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Scottsboro sees about 239 frost-free days — roughly Mar 18 through Nov 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 8 to Oct 29, about 204 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Scottsboro?
The federal record around Scottsboro is a meaningful one — 188 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (132), 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 Scottsboro?
From about Oct 13 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Scottsboro's scale — its 8a band and its 239-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Scottsboro'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 Scottsboro’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Scottsboro's own scale — its own ~239-day season between 28°F freezes, the 32,413 acres it covers and 188 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Scottsboro's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Scottsboro's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 18 and Nov 12 and the ~239-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 188 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Scottsboro, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Scottsboro's boundary and the 32,413 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~239-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Scottsboro's own centroid, the Southwestern AppalachiansUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Scottsboro's 32,413 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jackson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jackson 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 Jackson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Scottsboro's 32,413 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Scottsboro you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 32,413 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 Scottsboro-wide figureread your own land →
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