Moody AFB, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Growers here do well with artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Moody AFB, 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 Moody AFB 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 Moody AFB — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Moody AFB — the short answer
Moody AFB, Georgia: USDA zone 9a, about 298 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 12
- Lowndes County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 7
- Lowndes County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~298
- Lowndes County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Lowndes County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Moody AFB's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Moody AFB's 298-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Moody AFB
Each reading below is measured for Moody AFB itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMoody AFB runs about 298 days between hard freezes (read from Lowndes County, the closest normal to Moody AFB) — 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
MeasuredMoody AFB 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 Moody AFB is in
Moody AFB sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Moody AFB's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lowndes County.
What Grows in Moody AFB
Every plant below cleared Moody AFB's own zone 9a and its 298-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Moody AFB?
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 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 7 — 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 Moody AFB
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Moody AFB. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- USAF-MOODY AIR FORCE BASE-MAINPFAS · 0 ft
- 20F004Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- 20F007Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- MOODY AFBSuperfund · 1.0 mi
- MOODY AFBBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- MOODY AFBToxics Release Inventory · 1.0 mi
- 20F006Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- #936 A&M FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- 20F046Nitrate · 1.3 mi
- #911 (GAS & GO #5 )Underground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- 20F020Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- MALLORY'S BODY SHOP INCBrownfields · 2.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Moody AFB'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 Moody AFB.
Total Sites
277
within ~10 miles of Moody AFB
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Moody AFB
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Moody AFB
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Moody AFB, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Moody AFB — PFAS (5 sites) and Nitrate (114 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Moody AFB
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 Moody AFB average
Your land is one point inside Moody AFB
Everything above resolves to Moody AFB as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lowndes 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 Moody AFB Average
Moody AFB Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Moody AFB
- ●One soil character for all of Moody AFB
- ●Frost dates read at Moody AFB's scale: Feb 12 to Dec 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Moody AFB's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Moody AFB
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Moody AFB, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Moody AFB averages can't show:
We read public map data around Moody AFB — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Moody AFB average
How we know this about Moody AFB
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 Lowndes 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 Moody AFB
When does frost risk typically end in Moody AFB?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Moody AFB typically lands around Feb 12, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Moody AFB?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Moody AFB typically arrives around Dec 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 23, so the watching starts about Nov 7 — about 298 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Moody AFB?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Moody AFB sees about 298 frost-free days — roughly Feb 12 through Dec 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 5 to Nov 23, about 263 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Moody AFB?
The federal record around Moody AFB is a meaningful one — 277 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (115), the nearest PFAS record under a tenth of a mile 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 Moody AFB?
From about Nov 7 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 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Moody AFB's scale — its 9a band and its 298-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Moody AFB'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 Moody AFB’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Moody AFB's own scale — the 2,592 acres it covers and 277 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Moody AFB's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 277 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Moody AFB, the closest PFAS record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Moody AFB's boundary and the 2,592 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~298-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Moody AFB's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Moody AFB has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lowndes County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Moody AFB's 2,592 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lowndes County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lowndes 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 Lowndes County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Moody AFB's 2,592 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Moody AFB you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,592 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest PFAS record under a tenth of a mile 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 Moody AFB-wide figureread your own land →
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