Alston, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Alston, 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 Alston 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 Alston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Alston — the short answer
Alston, Georgia: USDA zone 9a, about 290 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 17
- Montgomery County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 4
- Montgomery County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~290
- Montgomery 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 Montgomery County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Alston's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Alston's 290-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Alston
Each reading below is measured for Alston itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsAlston runs about 290 days between hard freezes (read from Montgomery County, the closest normal to Alston) — 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
MeasuredAlston 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 Alston is in
Alston sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Alston's own centroid rather than borrowed from Montgomery County.
What Grows in Alston
Every plant below cleared Alston's own zone 9a and its 290-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Alston?
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 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 4 — 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 Alston
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Alston. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- UVALDA LEARNING CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- GA DOT 10530 MONTGOMERY ROUTINEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- 25Q001Nitrate · 3.4 mi
- BURNETTES COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- CITY OF UVALDAUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- SANT LLC UVALDA FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- GA DOT 10546 MONTGOMERY CO AREAUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- ALTAMAHA RESTAURANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- MOSES GRASS COUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- LADSONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- 25Q002Nitrate · 4.0 mi
- MCNATT FALLS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Alston'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 Alston.
Total Sites
135
within ~10 miles of Alston
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Alston
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Alston
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Alston, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 109 sites within ~10 miles of Alston. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Alston
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 Alston average
Your land is one point inside Alston
Everything above resolves to Alston as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Montgomery 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 Alston Average
Alston Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Alston
- ●One soil character for all of Alston
- ●Frost dates read at Alston's scale: Feb 17 to Dec 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Alston's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Alston
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Alston, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Alston averages can't show:
We read public map data around Alston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Alston average
How we know this about Alston
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 Montgomery 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 Alston
When does frost risk typically end in Alston?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Alston typically lands around Feb 17, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Alston?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Alston typically arrives around Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 20, so the watching starts about Nov 4 — about 290 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Alston?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Alston sees about 290 frost-free days — roughly Feb 17 through Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 10 to Nov 20, about 255 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Alston?
The federal record around Alston is a meaningful one — 135 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (109), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 3.2 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 Alston?
From about Nov 4 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 4 (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 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Alston's scale — its 9a band and its 290-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Alston'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 Alston’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Alston's own scale — the 1,823 acres it covers and 135 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Alston's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 135 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Alston, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 3.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Alston's boundary and the 1,823 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~290-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Alston's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Alston has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Montgomery County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Alston's 1,823 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Montgomery County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Montgomery County
- The growing challenges every Georgia grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Georgia
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Montgomery County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Alston's 1,823 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Alston you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,823 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 3.2 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 Alston-wide figureread your own land →
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