Baconton, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Baconton, 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 Baconton 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 Baconton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Baconton — the short answer
Baconton, Georgia: USDA zone 9a, about 290 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 18
- Mitchell County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 5
- Mitchell County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~290
- Mitchell County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 1K 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 Mitchell County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Baconton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Baconton's 290-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Baconton
Each reading below is measured for Baconton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBaconton runs about 290 days between hard freezes (read from Mitchell County, the closest normal to Baconton) — 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
MeasuredBaconton 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 Baconton is in
Baconton sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Baconton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Mitchell County.
What Grows in Baconton
Every plant below cleared Baconton'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 Baconton?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 5 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Baconton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Baconton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- M&M FARMS RONALD MOREYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- FLINT RIVER PECAN FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- JAMES L VINSONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- AT&T GREENOUGH RADIO RELAY STATIUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- GLASS CONTRACTORS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- JOHN BONSERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- 12K002Nitrate · 2200 ft
- MIDWAY STOP & SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- BZ BEEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- AMERICAN DAIRYCO - GEORGIA, LLCCAFO · 2.8 mi
- SOUTHEAST MILKToxics Release Inventory · 3.3 mi
- 12J001Nitrate · 3.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Baconton'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 Baconton.
Total Sites
141
within ~10 miles of Baconton
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
6 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Baconton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Baconton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Baconton, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 82 sites within ~10 miles of Baconton. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Baconton
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 Baconton average
Your land is one point inside Baconton
Everything above resolves to Baconton as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Mitchell 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 Baconton Average
Baconton Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Baconton
- ●One soil character for all of Baconton
- ●Frost dates read at Baconton's scale: Feb 18 to Dec 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Baconton's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Baconton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Baconton, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Baconton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Baconton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Baconton average
How we know this about Baconton
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 Mitchell 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 Baconton
When does frost risk typically end in Baconton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Baconton typically lands around Feb 18, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Baconton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Baconton typically arrives around Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 21, so the watching starts about Nov 5 — about 290 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Baconton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Baconton sees about 290 frost-free days — roughly Feb 18 through Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 11 to Nov 21, about 255 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Baconton?
The federal record around Baconton shows 141 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (82), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Baconton?
From about Nov 5 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Baconton's scale — its 9a band and its 290-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Baconton'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 Baconton’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Baconton's own scale — the 1,249 acres it covers and 141 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Baconton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 141 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Baconton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Baconton's boundary and the 1,249 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 Baconton's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Baconton has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Mitchell County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Baconton's 1,249 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Mitchell County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Mitchell 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 Mitchell County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Baconton's 1,249 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Baconton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,249 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Baconton-wide figureread your own land →
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