Catoosa County, in Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Catoosa County lies within Appalachia — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Catoosa County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Catoosa County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Catoosa County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Catoosa County — the short answer
Catoosa County, Georgia: USDA zone 8a, about 250 days between hard freezes, across 104K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~250
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 104K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Catoosa County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Catoosa County's 250-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Catoosa County
Across a year, Catoosa County accumulates about 4,442 growing degree days above 50°F, about 973 fewer than the middle Georgia county — ahead of 16 of Georgia’s 159 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Winter banks about 1,779 hours below 45°F, 643 more than the Georgia middle of 1,136. Chill is what tells a fruit tree its dormancy is over, and it is set by climate rather than by anything you can build.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Catoosa County
Across Catoosa County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Minvale, Lyerly, and Townley are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a gravelly silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.0–5.3, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
17%
Hydric soils
1%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Catoosa County
The USDA soil survey maps 80% of Catoosa County as well drained — but another 19% drains differently: 10% somewhat poorly drained, 5% moderately well drained.
Minvale is the most extensive named soil at 14% of mapped acres, then Lyerly (13%) and Townley (8%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Catoosa County
Each reading below is measured for Catoosa County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Catoosa County are well drained, in hydrologic group B — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Catoosa County runs about pH 5.0–5.3, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredCatoosa County runs about 250 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredCatoosa County 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 Catoosa County is in
Catoosa County sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Catoosa County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Catoosa County's own USDA zone 8a and its own 250-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile.
Is it too late to plant in Catoosa County?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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 18 — 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.
Documented around Catoosa County
Survey cells within 31 miles of Catoosa County checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 107 miles off. What to watch for.
- Japanese beetle1 documented records
- monarch butterfly1 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Catoosa County
USGS estimates 5,393 lb of 2,4-d on Catoosa County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Atrazine (509 lb) and Glyphosate (492 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Catoosa County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Catoosa County — 190 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Catoosa County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Catoosa County
Closest first, across Catoosa County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 7-Eleven Store #41065Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- METRO BOILER TUBE COMPANY, INC.Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- NANCE CHEVRON/#43935 (FORMER)Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- PANTRY #3503 DBA KANGAROOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- LEGAL MANUFACTURING, LLCBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- SAM'S MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- GEORGIA PAIN PHYSICIANS MERCURY SPILLSuperfund · 1.1 mi
- PROPEX INC.Toxics Release Inventory · 1.1 mi
- SHAW INDUSTRIES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- ENVIRONMENTAL BATTERY SOLUTIONSBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- PENSKE TRUCK LEASING (FORMER)Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- SHAW INDUSTRIES, INC. - PLANT RPToxics Release Inventory · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Catoosa County'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 Catoosa County.
Total Sites
190
across Catoosa County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Catoosa County
Severity Distribution
across Catoosa County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Catoosa County, two things run higher than the national average across Catoosa County — Superfund (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (133 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Catoosa County
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 Catoosa County average
Your land is one point inside Catoosa County
Everything above resolves to Catoosa County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 104K acres. 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Catoosa County Average
Catoosa County Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Catoosa County
- ●One soil character for all of Catoosa County
- ●Frost dates read at Catoosa County's scale: Mar 13 to Nov 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Catoosa County's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Catoosa County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Catoosa County, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Catoosa County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Catoosa County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Catoosa County average
How we know this about Catoosa County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Catoosa County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Catoosa County
When does frost risk typically end in Catoosa County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Catoosa County 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.
How long is the growing season in Catoosa County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Catoosa County sees about 250 frost-free days — roughly Mar 13 through Nov 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 3 to Nov 4, about 215 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Catoosa County?
The federal record around Catoosa County is a meaningful one — 190 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (133), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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.
Everything above is measured at Catoosa County's scale — its 8a band and its 250-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Catoosa County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Georgia's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Catoosa County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Catoosa County's own scale — its own ~250-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 190 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Catoosa County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Catoosa County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~250-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Catoosa CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 190 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Catoosa County's boundary and the 103,784 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~250-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Catoosa County sitting wholly inside the Ridge and ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Catoosa County for 2 tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Catoosa County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Georgia grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Georgia
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Catoosa County — the ~250 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Catoosa County's 103,784 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 190 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Catoosa Countyread your own land →