Jackson, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Jackson, 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 Jackson 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 Jackson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Jackson — the short answer
Jackson, Georgia: USDA zone 8a, about 260 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 9
- Butts County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 24
- Butts County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~260
- Butts County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 4K 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 Butts County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Jackson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Jackson's 260-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Jackson
Each reading below is measured for Jackson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsJackson runs about 260 days between hard freezes (read from Butts County, the closest normal to Jackson) — 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
MeasuredJackson 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 Jackson is in
Jackson sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Jackson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Butts County.
What Grows in Jackson
Every plant below cleared Jackson's own zone 8a and its 260-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Jackson?
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 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 24 — 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 Jackson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Jackson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BST/JACKSON CO-R2124Underground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- 142 ACRE SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- JAMES' GULF/FORMERLY BIG GULFUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- JACKSON BEST BUYUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- PEACHTREE STREET AMOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- JP PEACHTREEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- JACKSON 66 SELF SERVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- KUBER BHANDAR CORP DBA LUCKY LOTTO MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- CHAMPION INT CORP/JACKSONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- GDC JACUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- BUTTS COUNTY BD OF EDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- T&S GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Jackson'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 Jackson.
Total Sites
136
within ~10 miles of Jackson
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Jackson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Jackson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Jackson, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 103 sites within ~10 miles of Jackson. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Jackson
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 Jackson average
Your land is one point inside Jackson
Everything above resolves to Jackson as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Butts 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 Jackson Average
Jackson Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Jackson
- ●One soil character for all of Jackson
- ●Frost dates read at Jackson's scale: Mar 9 to Nov 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Jackson's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Jackson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Jackson, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Jackson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Jackson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Jackson average
How we know this about Jackson
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 Butts 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 Jackson
When does frost risk typically end in Jackson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Jackson typically lands around Mar 9, 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 30.
When is the first frost in Jackson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Jackson typically arrives around Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 10, so the watching starts about Oct 25 — about 260 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Jackson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Jackson sees about 260 frost-free days — roughly Mar 9 through Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 30 to Nov 10, about 225 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Jackson?
The federal record around Jackson is a meaningful one — 136 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (103), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Jackson?
From about Oct 25 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Jackson's scale — its 8a band and its 260-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Jackson'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 Jackson’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Jackson's own scale — the 3,890 acres it covers and 136 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Jackson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 136 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Jackson, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Jackson's boundary and the 3,890 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~260-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Jackson's own centroid, the PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Jackson has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Butts County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Jackson's 3,890 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Butts County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Butts 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 Butts County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Jackson's 3,890 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Jackson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,890 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Jackson-wide figureread your own land →
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