Bethlehem, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bethlehem, 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 Bethlehem 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 Bethlehem — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bethlehem — the short answer
Bethlehem, Georgia: USDA zone 8b, about 268 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 4
- Barrow County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- Barrow County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~268
- Barrow 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 Barrow County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Bethlehem's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bethlehem's 268-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bethlehem
Each reading below is measured for Bethlehem itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBethlehem runs about 268 days between hard freezes (read from Barrow County, the closest normal to Bethlehem) — 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
MeasuredBethlehem 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 Bethlehem is in
Bethlehem sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Bethlehem's own centroid rather than borrowed from Barrow County.
What Grows in Bethlehem
Every plant below cleared Bethlehem's own zone 8b and its 268-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bethlehem?
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 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Bethlehem
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bethlehem. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FRIENDSHIP SERVICES LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- RUTLEDGE GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- CIRCLE K 2723325Underground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- SUPER H #3Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- JESSMART INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- HARRISON POULTRY INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- 16FF01Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- HARRISON POULTRY INCToxics Release Inventory · 0.6 mi
- DOUGLAS F HARWELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- AUTOMATED PACKAGING INCToxics Release Inventory · 1.4 mi
- PATS TAVERNN (FORMER GAS STATION)Underground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- TEXACO FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bethlehem'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 Bethlehem.
Total Sites
298
within ~10 miles of Bethlehem
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bethlehem
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bethlehem
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bethlehem, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Bethlehem — PFAS (7 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (223 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Bethlehem
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 Bethlehem average
Your land is one point inside Bethlehem
Everything above resolves to Bethlehem as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Barrow 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 Bethlehem Average
Bethlehem Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Bethlehem
- ●One soil character for all of Bethlehem
- ●Frost dates read at Bethlehem's scale: Mar 4 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bethlehem's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bethlehem
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bethlehem, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bethlehem averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bethlehem — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bethlehem average
How we know this about Bethlehem
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 Barrow 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 Bethlehem
When does frost risk typically end in Bethlehem?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bethlehem typically lands around Mar 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Bethlehem?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bethlehem typically arrives around Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 13, so the watching starts about Oct 28 — about 268 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bethlehem?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bethlehem sees about 268 frost-free days — roughly Mar 4 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 25 to Nov 13, about 233 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bethlehem?
The federal record around Bethlehem is a meaningful one — 298 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (223), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Bethlehem?
From about Oct 28 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bethlehem's scale — its 8b band and its 268-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bethlehem'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 Bethlehem’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Bethlehem's own scale — the 1,650 acres it covers and 298 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bethlehem's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 298 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bethlehem, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bethlehem's boundary and the 1,650 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~268-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bethlehem's own centroid, the PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Bethlehem has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Barrow County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bethlehem's 1,650 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Barrow County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Barrow 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 Barrow County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bethlehem's 1,650 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bethlehem you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,650 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 Bethlehem-wide figureread your own land →
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