Orchard Hill, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Orchard Hill, 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 Orchard Hill 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 Orchard Hill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Orchard Hill — the short answer
Orchard Hill, Georgia: USDA zone 8b, about 264 days between hard freezes, across 227 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 6
- Spalding County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 25
- Spalding County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~264
- Spalding County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 227 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 Spalding County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Orchard Hill's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Orchard Hill's 264-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Orchard Hill
Each reading below is measured for Orchard Hill itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsOrchard Hill runs about 264 days between hard freezes (read from Spalding County, the closest normal to Orchard Hill) — 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
MeasuredOrchard Hill 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 Orchard Hill is in
Orchard Hill sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Orchard Hill's own centroid rather than borrowed from Spalding County.
What Grows in Orchard Hill
Every plant below cleared Orchard Hill'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 Orchard Hill?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 25 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Orchard Hill
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Orchard Hill. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ORCHARD HILL FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- CLOSED VIDEO STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- JULIAN JONESUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- ARIBrownfields · 600 ft
- 12Z002Nitrate · 600 ft
- H & R GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- SPALDING COUNTY WATER SYSTEMPFAS · 2.1 mi
- GRIFFINPFAS · 2.1 mi
- MILNER AMOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- ENTERPRISE PROPANE TERMINALS & STORAGE LLC - DIXIE MILNER TERMINALBrownfields · 2.4 mi
- RANEW'S ENGINE PAINT DIVISIONBrownfields · 2.6 mi
- TOPPAN USA, INC.Brownfields · 2.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Orchard Hill'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 Orchard Hill.
Total Sites
324
within ~10 miles of Orchard Hill
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Orchard Hill
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Orchard Hill
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Orchard Hill, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Orchard Hill — Underground Storage Tanks (243 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (21 sites). 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.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Orchard Hill
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 Orchard Hill average
Your land is one point inside Orchard Hill
Everything above resolves to Orchard Hill as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 227 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Spalding 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 Orchard Hill Average
Orchard Hill Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Orchard Hill
- ●One soil character for all of Orchard Hill
- ●Frost dates read at Orchard Hill's scale: Mar 6 to Nov 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Orchard Hill's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Orchard Hill
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Orchard Hill, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Orchard Hill averages can't show:
We read public map data around Orchard Hill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Orchard Hill average
How we know this about Orchard Hill
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 Spalding 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 Orchard Hill
When does frost risk typically end in Orchard Hill?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Orchard Hill typically lands around Mar 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Orchard Hill?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Orchard Hill typically arrives around Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 11, so the watching starts about Oct 26 — about 264 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Orchard Hill?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Orchard Hill sees about 264 frost-free days — roughly Mar 6 through Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 27 to Nov 11, about 229 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Orchard Hill?
The federal record around Orchard Hill is a meaningful one — 324 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (243), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Orchard Hill?
From about Oct 26 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Orchard Hill's scale — its 8b band and its 264-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Orchard Hill'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 Orchard Hill’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Orchard Hill's own scale — the 227 acres it covers and 324 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Orchard Hill's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 324 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Orchard Hill, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Orchard Hill's boundary and the 227 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 Orchard Hill's own centroid, the PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Orchard Hill has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Spalding County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Orchard Hill's 227 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Spalding County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Spalding 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 Spalding County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Orchard Hill's 227 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Orchard Hill you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 227 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Orchard Hill-wide figureread your own land →
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