Eglin AFB, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Eglin AFB, 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 Eglin AFB 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 Eglin AFB — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Eglin AFB — the short answer
Eglin AFB, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 289 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 16
- Okaloosa County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Okaloosa County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~289
- Okaloosa County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Okaloosa County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Eglin AFB's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Eglin AFB's 289-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Eglin AFB
Each reading below is measured for Eglin AFB itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsEglin AFB runs about 289 days between hard freezes (read from Okaloosa County, the closest normal to Eglin AFB) — 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
MeasuredEglin AFB 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 Eglin AFB is in
Eglin AFB sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Eglin AFB's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Okaloosa County is mostly Southeastern Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Eglin AFB
Every plant below cleared Eglin AFB's own zone 9a and its 289-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Eglin AFB?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 2 — 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 Eglin AFB
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Eglin AFB. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SHALIMAR POINTE GOLF COURSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- J A SIRNEY WELLNitrate · 1.7 mi
- OKALOOSA CO.WTR.; SWR.SYSTEMPFAS · 1.7 mi
- SHALIMAR CENTRAL OFFUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- APAC-FLORIDA, INC - NORTH FL DIVISIONBrownfields · 1.9 mi
- FOOD MAXUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- APAC - NORTH FLORIDA INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- APAC SOUTHEASTSuperfund · 2.0 mi
- OKALOOSA CNTY-EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- GULF COAST PROPERTIES #107 LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- OKALOOSA CNTY SHERIFFS DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- OKALOOSA CNTY-SHALIMAR COURTHSE ANNEXUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Eglin AFB'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 Eglin AFB.
Total Sites
561
within ~10 miles of Eglin AFB
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
8 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Eglin AFB
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Eglin AFB
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Eglin AFB, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Eglin AFB — PFAS (8 sites) and Superfund (8 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Eglin AFB
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 Eglin AFB average
Your land is one point inside Eglin AFB
Everything above resolves to Eglin AFB as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Okaloosa 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 Eglin AFB Average
Eglin AFB Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Eglin AFB
- ●One soil character for all of Eglin AFB
- ●Frost dates read at Eglin AFB's scale: Feb 16 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Eglin AFB's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Eglin AFB
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Eglin AFB, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Eglin AFB averages can't show:
We read public map data around Eglin AFB — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Eglin AFB average
How we know this about Eglin AFB
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 Okaloosa 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 Eglin AFB
When does frost risk typically end in Eglin AFB?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Eglin AFB typically lands around Feb 16, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Eglin AFB?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Eglin AFB typically arrives around Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 18, so the watching starts about Nov 2 — about 289 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Eglin AFB?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Eglin AFB sees about 289 frost-free days — roughly Feb 16 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 9 to Nov 18, about 254 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Eglin AFB?
The federal record around Eglin AFB is a meaningful one — 561 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (271), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.5 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 Eglin AFB?
From about Nov 2 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Eglin AFB's scale — its 9a band and its 289-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Eglin AFB'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 Eglin AFB’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Eglin AFB's own scale — the 1,971 acres it covers and 561 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Eglin AFB's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 561 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Eglin AFB, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Eglin AFB's boundary and the 1,971 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~289-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Eglin AFB sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Eglin AFB has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Okaloosa County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Eglin AFB's 1,971 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Okaloosa County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Okaloosa County
- The growing challenges every Florida grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Florida
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Okaloosa County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Eglin AFB's 1,971 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Eglin AFB you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,971 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.5 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 Eglin AFB-wide figureread your own land →