McDonough, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in McDonough, 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 McDonough 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 McDonough — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
McDonough — the short answer
McDonough, Georgia: USDA zone 8b, about 257 days between hard freezes, across 9K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- 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
- 9K 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 8b is McDonough's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against McDonough's 257-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in McDonough
Each reading below is measured for McDonough itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMcDonough runs about 257 days between hard freezes (read from Henry County, the closest normal to McDonough) — 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
MeasuredMcDonough sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 McDonough is in
McDonough sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at McDonough's own centroid rather than borrowed from Henry County.
What Grows in McDonough
Every plant below cleared McDonough's own zone 8b and its 257-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in McDonough?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
What's on the federal record near McDonough
Closest first, within ~10 miles of McDonough. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MCDONOUGH TIRE COUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- STRINGER WHOLESALE LUMBER & SUPPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- BST/MCDONOUGH CO/F1479Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- STILLWELL PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- WASH AND WAX DETAILUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- KANGAROO #50Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- BEARD EXXON STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- PHILLIPS 66 SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- MCDONOUGH TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- PLANTERS WAREHOUSE & LUMBER COUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- VACANT LOT/MCDONOUGH TIREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- JOHNSONS UNION 76Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from McDonough'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 McDonough.
Total Sites
364
within ~10 miles of McDonough
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
6 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of McDonough
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of McDonough
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around McDonough, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of McDonough — PFAS (5 sites) and Superfund (6 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 McDonough
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 McDonough average
Your land is one point inside McDonough
Everything above resolves to McDonough as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 9K 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 McDonough Average
McDonough Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across McDonough
- ●One soil character for all of McDonough
- ●Frost dates read at McDonough's scale: Mar 9 to Nov 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not McDonough's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in McDonough
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in McDonough, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that McDonough averages can't show:
We read public map data around McDonough — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the McDonough average
How we know this about McDonough
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 McDonough
When does frost risk typically end in McDonough?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in McDonough 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 McDonough?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in McDonough 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 McDonough?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, McDonough 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 McDonough?
The federal record around McDonough is a meaningful one — 364 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (231), 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 McDonough?
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 McDonough's scale — its 8b band and its 257-day season. Your yard writes its own version of McDonough'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 McDonough’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at McDonough's own scale — the 8,563 acres it covers and 364 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- McDonough's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 364 documented contamination sites on the federal record near McDonough, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- McDonough's boundary and the 8,563 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~257-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at McDonough's own centroid, the PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — McDonough 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 McDonough's 8,563 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 McDonough's 8,563 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of McDonough you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 8,563 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 McDonough-wide figureread your own land →
More in Georgia
Growing region
Nearby growing guides