Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government, 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 Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government 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 Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government — the short answer
Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government, Georgia: USDA zone 8b, about 284 days between hard freezes, across 193K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 21
- Richmond County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Richmond County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~284
- Richmond County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 193K 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 Richmond County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government's 284-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government
Each reading below is measured for Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsAugusta-Richmond County consolidated government runs about 284 days between hard freezes (read from Richmond County, the closest normal to Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government) — 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
MeasuredAugusta-Richmond County consolidated government sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government is in
Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government's own centroid rather than borrowed from Richmond County.
What Grows in Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government
Every plant below cleared Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government's own zone 8b and its 284-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 21 (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. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
Documented around Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government
Survey cells within 31 miles of Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 138 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NEED MORE KUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- RICHMOND CO/FIRE STATION #8Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- WALLYSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- MCTEER FOOD & FUEL #5Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- C T MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- CIRCLE K #2723263Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- FIRST VEHICLE SERVICES INC #49080Brownfields · 0.8 mi
- WALGREENS 15333Brownfields · 0.8 mi
- CROWN GA-506/ZIPPY MART #433Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- WALMART NEIGHBORHOOD MARKET #2465Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- WALMART NEIGHBORHOOD MARKET #2465Brownfields · 0.9 mi
- CIRCLE K STORE #3170Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government'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 Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government.
Total Sites
823
within ~10 miles of Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
13 Superfund sites
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government — Toxics Release Inventory (67 sites) and Superfund (13 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government
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 Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government average
Your land is one point inside Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government
Everything above resolves to Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 193K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Richmond 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 Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government Average
Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government
- ●One soil character for all of Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government
- ●Frost dates read at Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government's scale: Feb 21 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government averages can't show:
We read public map data around Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government average
How we know this about Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government
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 Richmond 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 Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government
When does frost risk typically end in Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government typically lands around Feb 21, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government 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 284 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government sees about 284 frost-free days — roughly Feb 21 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 14 to Nov 18, about 249 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government?
The federal record around Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government runs heavier than most — 823 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (523), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government?
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 Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government's scale — its 8b band and its 284-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government'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 Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government's own scale — the 193,460 acres it covers and 823 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 823 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government's boundary and the 193,460 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~284-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Richmond County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government's 193,460 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Richmond County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Richmond 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 Richmond County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government's 193,460 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 193,460 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 Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government-wide figureread your own land →
More in Georgia
Wider growing context
What grows across GeorgiaAugusta-Richmond County consolidated government sits outside our named growing regions, so Georgia as a whole is its closest context here.