Dutch Island, 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.
On paper, artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Dutch Island, 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 Dutch Island 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 Dutch Island — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Dutch Island — the short answer
Dutch Island, Georgia: USDA zone 9a, about 304 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 8
- Chatham County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 9
- Chatham County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~304
- Chatham 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 Chatham County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Dutch Island's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Dutch Island's 304-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Dutch Island
Each reading below is measured for Dutch Island itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsDutch Island runs about 304 days between hard freezes (read from Chatham County, the closest normal to Dutch Island) — 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
MeasuredDutch Island 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 Dutch Island is in
Dutch Island sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Dutch Island's own centroid rather than borrowed from Chatham County.
What Grows in Dutch Island
Every plant below cleared Dutch Island's own zone 9a and its 304-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Dutch Island?
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 Jan 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 9 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Dutch Island
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Dutch Island. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- UGA SAVANNAHUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- SKIDAWAY INSTITUTE OF OCEANOGRAPHYBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- 37P113Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- 37P115Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- 37P114Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- SAVANNAH YACHT CLUBUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- THUNDERBOLT MARINE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- LUU MARINE & ASSOCIATES INCBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- LATEX CONSTRUCTION COSuperfund · 1.8 mi
- THUNDERBOLT MARINE INBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- THUNDERBOLT FISHERMANS SEAFOODUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- SAVANNAH STATE UNIVERSITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Dutch Island'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 Dutch Island.
Total Sites
905
within ~10 miles of Dutch Island
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
14 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Dutch Island
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Dutch Island
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Dutch Island, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Dutch Island — Superfund (14 sites) and PFAS (9 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Dutch Island
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 Dutch Island average
Your land is one point inside Dutch Island
Everything above resolves to Dutch Island as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Chatham 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 Dutch Island Average
Dutch Island Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Dutch Island
- ●One soil character for all of Dutch Island
- ●Frost dates read at Dutch Island's scale: Feb 8 to Dec 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Dutch Island's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Dutch Island
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Dutch Island, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Dutch Island averages can't show:
We read public map data around Dutch Island — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Dutch Island average
How we know this about Dutch Island
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 Chatham 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 Dutch Island
When does frost risk typically end in Dutch Island?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Dutch Island typically lands around Feb 8, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Dutch Island?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Dutch Island typically arrives around Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 25, so the watching starts about Nov 9 — about 304 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Dutch Island?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Dutch Island sees about 304 frost-free days — roughly Feb 8 through Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 1 to Nov 25, about 269 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Dutch Island?
The federal record around Dutch Island is a meaningful one — 905 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (608), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 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 Dutch Island?
From about Nov 9 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 9 (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 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Dutch Island's scale — its 9a band and its 304-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Dutch Island'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 Dutch Island’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Dutch Island's own scale — the 1,574 acres it covers and 905 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Dutch Island's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 905 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Dutch Island, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Dutch Island's boundary and the 1,574 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~304-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Dutch Island's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Dutch Island has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Chatham County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Dutch Island's 1,574 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Chatham County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Chatham 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 Chatham County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Dutch Island's 1,574 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Dutch Island you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,574 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 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 Dutch Island-wide figureread your own land →