Nicholson, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Nicholson, 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 Nicholson 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 Nicholson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Nicholson — the short answer
Nicholson, Georgia: USDA zone 8b, about 264 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 8
- Jackson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- Jackson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~264
- Jackson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City 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 Jackson County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Nicholson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Nicholson's 264-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Nicholson
Each reading below is measured for Nicholson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsNicholson runs about 264 days between hard freezes (read from Jackson County, the closest normal to Nicholson) — 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
MeasuredNicholson 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 Nicholson is in
Nicholson sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Nicholson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jackson County.
What Grows in Nicholson
Every plant below cleared Nicholson's own zone 8b and its 264-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Nicholson?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Nicholson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Nicholson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NICHOLSON GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- QUICK PANTRY #1Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- ALLTEL GA INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- DHARAM GROUP LLC D/BA DANS FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- DIRT DOG MANUFACTURINGToxics Release Inventory · 2.4 mi
- NICHOLSON GA FORMALDEHYDE RELEASESuperfund · 3.3 mi
- HUBER ENGINEERED WOODS, LLCToxics Release Inventory · 3.3 mi
- GOLD KIST COMMERCE FEED MILLToxics Release Inventory · 3.7 mi
- PILGRIMS PRIDE FEED MILLUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- SE TOYOTA DIST LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- ENCHEM AMERICA INCToxics Release Inventory · 4.0 mi
- ENCHEM AMERICA INCBrownfields · 4.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Nicholson'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 Nicholson.
Total Sites
268
within ~10 miles of Nicholson
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Nicholson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Nicholson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Nicholson, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Nicholson — PFAS (4 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (209 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.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Nicholson
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 Nicholson average
Your land is one point inside Nicholson
Everything above resolves to Nicholson as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Jackson 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 Nicholson Average
Nicholson Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Nicholson
- ●One soil character for all of Nicholson
- ●Frost dates read at Nicholson's scale: Mar 8 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Nicholson's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Nicholson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Nicholson, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Nicholson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Nicholson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Nicholson average
How we know this about Nicholson
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 Jackson 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 Nicholson
When does frost risk typically end in Nicholson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Nicholson typically lands around Mar 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 29.
When is the first frost in Nicholson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Nicholson typically arrives around Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 13, so the watching starts about Oct 28 — about 264 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Nicholson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Nicholson sees about 264 frost-free days — roughly Mar 8 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 29 to Nov 13, about 229 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Nicholson?
The federal record around Nicholson is a meaningful one — 268 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (209), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Nicholson?
From about Oct 28 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Nicholson's scale — its 8b band and its 264-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Nicholson'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 Nicholson’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Nicholson's own scale — the 2,532 acres it covers and 268 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Nicholson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 268 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Nicholson, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Nicholson's boundary and the 2,532 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~264-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Nicholson's own centroid, the PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Nicholson has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Jackson County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Nicholson's 2,532 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jackson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jackson 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 Jackson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Nicholson's 2,532 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Nicholson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,532 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Nicholson-wide figureread your own land →
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