Austell, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Austell, 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 Austell 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 Austell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Austell — the short answer
Austell, Georgia: USDA zone 8a, about 256 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 13
- Cobb County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 24
- Cobb County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~256
- Cobb County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 4K 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 Cobb County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Austell's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Austell's 256-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Austell
Each reading below is measured for Austell itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsAustell runs about 256 days between hard freezes (read from Cobb County, the closest normal to Austell) — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredAustell 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 Austell is in
Austell sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Austell's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cobb County.
What Grows in Austell
Every plant below cleared Austell's own zone 8a and its 256-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Austell?
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 Feb 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 24 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
What's on the federal record near Austell
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Austell. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- POWDER SPRINGS ROAD PLATINGSuperfund · 450 ft
- CARAUSTAR MILL GROUP INC AUSTE LL BOXBOARD MILLSToxics Release Inventory · 1200 ft
- AUSTELL BUS SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- AUSTELL BOXBOARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- SWEETWATER PAPER BOARD COToxics Release Inventory · 1300 ft
- SWEETWATER PAPERBOARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- AUSTELL NATURAL GAS (WAREHOUSE)Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- STAR PAPER TUBE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- FORMER WAMA MANUFACTURINGSuperfund · 0.6 mi
- GREAT LAKES PETROLEUM/NORTHEAST LUBRICANTSToxics Release Inventory · 0.6 mi
- MEADOWS W R OF GEORGIToxics Release Inventory · 0.6 mi
- VETERANS OIL INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Austell'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 Austell.
Total Sites
1,329
within ~10 miles of Austell
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
20 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Austell
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Austell
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Austell, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Austell — Toxics Release Inventory (113 sites) and Superfund (20 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Austell
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 Austell average
Your land is one point inside Austell
Everything above resolves to Austell as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Cobb County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 city 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 Austell Average
Austell Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Austell
- ●One soil character for all of Austell
- ●Frost dates read at Austell's scale: Mar 13 to Nov 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Austell's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Austell
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Austell, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Austell averages can't show:
We read public map data around Austell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Austell average
How we know this about Austell
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Cobb 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Austell
When does frost risk typically end in Austell?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Austell typically lands around Mar 13, 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 Apr 3.
When is the first frost in Austell?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Austell typically arrives around Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 10, so the watching starts about Oct 25 — about 256 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Austell?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Austell sees about 256 frost-free days — roughly Mar 13 through Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 3 to Nov 10, about 221 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Austell?
The federal record around Austell is a meaningful one — 1,329 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (873), the nearest Superfund record under a tenth of a mile 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 Austell?
From about Oct 25 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 Nov 24 (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 Nov 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Austell's scale — its 8a band and its 256-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Austell'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 Austell’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Austell's own scale — the 4,078 acres it covers and 1,329 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Austell's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,329 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Austell, the closest Superfund record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Austell's boundary and the 4,078 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~256-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Austell's own centroid, the PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Austell has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Cobb County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Austell's 4,078 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cobb County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cobb 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 Cobb County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Austell's 4,078 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Austell you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,078 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Superfund record under a tenth of a mile 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 Austell-wide figureread your own land →
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