Sterrett, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Sterrett, 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 Sterrett 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 Sterrett — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Sterrett — the short answer
Sterrett, Alabama: USDA zone 8a, about 281 days between hard freezes, across 15K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Shelby County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 1
- Shelby County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~281
- Shelby County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 15K 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 Shelby County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Sterrett's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Sterrett's 281-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Sterrett
Each reading below is measured for Sterrett itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSterrett runs about 281 days between hard freezes (read from Shelby County, the closest normal to Sterrett) — 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
MeasuredSterrett 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 Sterrett is in
Sterrett sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Sterrett's own centroid rather than borrowed from Shelby County.
What Grows in Sterrett
Every plant below cleared Sterrett's own zone 8a and its 281-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Sterrett?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 23 (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. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Sterrett
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Sterrett. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WHIT'S GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- BAILEY'S SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- NEW LONDON WATER & FIRE PRO AUTHORITYPFAS · 3.4 mi
- STERRETT-VANDIVER WATER SYSTEMPFAS · 3.4 mi
- WATSONS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- VINCENT MAIN - 11639Underground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- VINCENT ELEMENTARYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- SUNSHINE ROBERTSONUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- OAK MOUNTAIN RADIO STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- BARBARA SMITHUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- ALABAMA PLATING COMPANY, INC.Superfund · 4.4 mi
- ALABAMA PLATING- SATELLITESuperfund · 4.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Sterrett'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 Sterrett.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Sterrett
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Sterrett
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Sterrett, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Sterrett — Superfund (9 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (23 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Sterrett
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 Sterrett average
Your land is one point inside Sterrett
Everything above resolves to Sterrett as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 15K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Shelby 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 Sterrett Average
Sterrett Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Sterrett
- ●One soil character for all of Sterrett
- ●Frost dates read at Sterrett's scale: Feb 23 to Dec 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Sterrett's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Sterrett
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Sterrett, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Sterrett averages can't show:
We read public map data around Sterrett — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Sterrett average
How we know this about Sterrett
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 Shelby 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 Sterrett
When does frost risk typically end in Sterrett?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Sterrett typically lands around Feb 23, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Sterrett?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Sterrett 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 281 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Sterrett?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Sterrett sees about 281 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 17, about 246 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Sterrett?
The federal record around Sterrett is a meaningful one — 183 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (85), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 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 Sterrett?
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 Sterrett's scale — its 8a band and its 281-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Sterrett'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 Sterrett’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Sterrett's own scale — the 14,670 acres it covers and 183 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Sterrett's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 183 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Sterrett, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Sterrett's boundary and the 14,670 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~281-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Sterrett's own centroid, the Ridge and ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Sterrett has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Shelby County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Sterrett's 14,670 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Shelby County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Shelby 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 Shelby County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Sterrett's 14,670 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Sterrett you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 14,670 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 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 Sterrett-wide figureread your own land →
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