Locust Grove, 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.
On paper, cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Locust Grove, 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 Locust Grove 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 Locust Grove — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Locust Grove — the short answer
Locust Grove, Georgia: USDA zone 8a, about 257 days between hard freezes, across 8K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 9
- Henry County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 21
- Henry County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~257
- Henry County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 8K 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 Henry County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Locust Grove's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Locust Grove's 257-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Locust Grove
Each reading below is measured for Locust Grove itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLocust Grove runs about 257 days between hard freezes (read from Henry County, the closest normal to Locust Grove) — 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
MeasuredLocust Grove 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 Locust Grove is in
Locust Grove sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Locust Grove's own centroid rather than borrowed from Henry County.
What Grows in Locust Grove
Every plant below cleared Locust Grove's own zone 8a and its 257-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Locust Grove?
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 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 21 — 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's on the federal record near Locust Grove
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Locust Grove. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CHEVRON FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- LOCUST GROVEPFAS · 2200 ft
- TEXACO FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- J & D AUTO SERVICESUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- CITY OF LOCUST GROVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- EXXON FOOD MART #100Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- JONES PETROUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- BPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- SALLY BEAUTY SUPPLY #10038Brownfields · 1.0 mi
- MURPHY USA #7495Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- WALMART SUPERCENTER 5709Brownfields · 1.0 mi
- INGLES GAS EXPRESS #495Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Locust Grove'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 Locust Grove.
Total Sites
270
within ~10 miles of Locust Grove
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Locust Grove
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Locust Grove
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Locust Grove, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Locust Grove — PFAS (3 sites) and Superfund (4 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Locust Grove
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 Locust Grove average
Your land is one point inside Locust Grove
Everything above resolves to Locust Grove as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 8K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Henry 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 Locust Grove Average
Locust Grove Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Locust Grove
- ●One soil character for all of Locust Grove
- ●Frost dates read at Locust Grove's scale: Mar 9 to Nov 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Locust Grove's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Locust Grove
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Locust Grove, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Locust Grove averages can't show:
We read public map data around Locust Grove — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Locust Grove average
How we know this about Locust Grove
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 Henry 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 Locust Grove
When does frost risk typically end in Locust Grove?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Locust Grove 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 Locust Grove?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Locust Grove typically arrives around Nov 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 7, so the watching starts about Oct 22 — about 257 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Locust Grove?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Locust Grove sees about 257 frost-free days — roughly Mar 9 through Nov 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 30 to Nov 7, about 222 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Locust Grove?
The federal record around Locust Grove is a meaningful one — 270 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (178), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Locust Grove?
From about Oct 22 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Locust Grove's scale — its 8a band and its 257-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Locust Grove'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 Locust Grove’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Locust Grove's own scale — the 7,898 acres it covers and 270 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Locust Grove's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 270 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Locust Grove, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Locust Grove's boundary and the 7,898 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~257-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Locust Grove's own centroid, the PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Locust Grove has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Henry County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Locust Grove's 7,898 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Henry County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Henry 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 Henry County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Locust Grove's 7,898 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Locust Grove you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,898 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Locust Grove-wide figureread your own land →
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