Pittman, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Among the crops suited to this profile: okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Pittman, 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 Pittman 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 Pittman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Pittman — the short answer
Pittman, Florida: USDA zone 9b, about 328 days between hard freezes, across 806 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 26
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 20
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~328
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 806 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 Lake County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Pittman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pittman's 328-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Pittman
Each reading below is measured for Pittman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPittman runs about 328 days between hard freezes (read from Lake County, the closest normal to Pittman) — 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
MeasuredPittman sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 Pittman is in
Pittman sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Pittman's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lake County.
What Grows in Pittman
Every plant below cleared Pittman's own zone 9b and its 328-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Pittman?
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 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 20 — 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 Pittman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Pittman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CHISHOLM TRAIL CAMPGROUNDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- MEEKERS QUIK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- PITTMAN WORK CENTER ABANDONED NR ALTOONA,FLNitrate · 1.0 mi
- MAS1-19 4IN WELL(TALLAHASSEE DIST SAMPL)Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- ALTOONA DISCOUNT STORE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- CIRCLE K #2722501Underground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- ALTOONA DISCOUNT FOOD MART-COX OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- LAKEVIEW TERRACE RETIREMENT COMMUNITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- SANDY ACRESUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- DISCOUNT FOOD 99.CENT STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- LCFD DISTRICT 4 STATION 6 NR ALTOONA,FLNitrate · 3.0 mi
- O'REILLY AUTO PARTS #6538Brownfields · 4.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Pittman'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 Pittman.
Total Sites
121
within ~10 miles of Pittman
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Pittman
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Pittman
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Pittman
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 Pittman average
Your land is one point inside Pittman
Everything above resolves to Pittman as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 806 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lake 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 Pittman Average
Pittman Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Pittman
- ●One soil character for all of Pittman
- ●Frost dates read at Pittman's scale: Jan 26 to Dec 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pittman's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Pittman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pittman, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pittman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pittman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pittman average
How we know this about Pittman
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 Lake 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 Pittman
When does frost risk typically end in Pittman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pittman typically lands around Jan 26, 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 Feb 16.
When is the first frost in Pittman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Pittman typically arrives around Dec 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 6, so the watching starts about Nov 20 — about 328 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Pittman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pittman sees about 328 frost-free days — roughly Jan 26 through Dec 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 16 to Dec 6, about 293 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pittman?
The federal record around Pittman is a meaningful one — 121 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (72), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Pittman?
From about Nov 20 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 20 (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 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Pittman's scale — its 9b band and its 328-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pittman'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 Pittman’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Pittman's own scale — the 806 acres it covers and 121 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pittman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 121 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Pittman, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Pittman's boundary and the 806 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~328-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Pittman's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Pittman has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lake County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Pittman's 806 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lake County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lake 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 Lake County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Pittman's 806 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Pittman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 806 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Pittman-wide figureread your own land →
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