Gordon County, in Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Gordon 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
Gordon County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Gordon 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 Gordon County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Gordon County — the short answer
Gordon County, Georgia: USDA zone 8a, about 242 days between hard freezes, across 228K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~242
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 228K 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 Gordon County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gordon County's 242-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Gordon County
Across a year, Gordon County accumulates about 4,451 growing degree days above 50°F, about 964 fewer than the middle Georgia county — ahead of 19 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 1,729 hours below 45°F, 593 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 Gordon County
Across Gordon County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Montevallo, Townley, and Shellbluff are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.0–5.5, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
26%
Hydric soils
4%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Gordon County
The USDA soil survey maps 61% of Gordon County as well drained — but another 38% drains differently: 20% moderately well drained, 6% excessively drained.
Montevallo is the most extensive named soil at 16% of mapped acres, then Townley (15%) and Shellbluff (9%).
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 Gordon County
Each reading below is measured for Gordon 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 Gordon County are well drained, in hydrologic group D — 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 Gordon County runs about pH 5.0–5.5, 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
MeasuredGordon County runs about 242 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
MeasuredGordon 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 Gordon County is in
Gordon County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Ridge and Valley (93%) and Blue Ridge (7%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Gordon County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Gordon County's own USDA zone 8a and its own 242-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 Gordon County?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 14 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
What gets applied to farmland in Gordon County
USGS estimates 26,767 lb of Glyphosate on Gordon County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of 2,4-d (16,867 lb) and Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (7,932 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 Gordon County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Gordon County — 321 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 5 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 Gordon 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 Gordon County
Closest first, across Gordon County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 06LL01Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- LARRYS TRIANGLE GROCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- CALHOUN PLASTICS & CHEMICALSToxics Release Inventory · 1.2 mi
- JOHNNY PARKER PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- TOWN & COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- RED BUD FOOD & TABACCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- REDBUD GROCERY & TOBACCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- PAULETTES FLORISTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- GINGERS GROCERY #62Underground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- PANTRY #3563 DBA GOLDEN GALLONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- A KNIGHT #2Underground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- PANTRY #3513 DBA GOLDEN GALLONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Gordon 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 Gordon County.
Total Sites
321
across Gordon County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Gordon County
Severity Distribution
across Gordon County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Gordon County, two things run higher than the national average across Gordon County — Toxics Release Inventory (49 sites) and Superfund (5 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 Gordon 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 Gordon County average
Your land is one point inside Gordon County
Everything above resolves to Gordon County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 228K 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 Gordon County Average
Gordon County Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Gordon County
- ●One soil character for all of Gordon County
- ●Frost dates read at Gordon County's scale: Mar 17 to Nov 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gordon County's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Gordon County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gordon County, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gordon County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gordon County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gordon County average
How we know this about Gordon 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 Gordon County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Gordon County
When does frost risk typically end in Gordon County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gordon County typically lands around Mar 17, 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 7.
How long is the growing season in Gordon County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gordon County sees about 242 frost-free days — roughly Mar 17 through Nov 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 7 to Oct 31, about 207 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Gordon County?
The federal record around Gordon County is a meaningful one — 321 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (196), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.9 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 Gordon County's scale — its 8a band and its 242-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gordon 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 Gordon County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Gordon County's own scale — its own ~242-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 321 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gordon County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Gordon County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~242-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Gordon CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 321 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Nitrate record about 0.9 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Gordon County's boundary and the 228,132 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~242-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Gordon County spans, Ridge and Valley the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Gordon 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 Gordon County — the ~242 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 Gordon County's 228,132 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 321 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 Gordon Countyread your own land →