Ray City, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Among the crops suited to this profile: artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Ray City, 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 Ray City 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 Ray City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ray City — the short answer
Ray City, Georgia: USDA zone 9a, about 286 days between hard freezes, across 733 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 18
- Berrien County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 1
- Berrien County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~286
- Berrien County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 733 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 Berrien County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Ray City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ray City's 286-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ray City
Each reading below is measured for Ray City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRay City runs about 286 days between hard freezes (read from Berrien County, the closest normal to Ray City) — 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
MeasuredRay City 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 Ray City is in
Ray City sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Ray City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Berrien County.
What Grows in Ray City
Every plant below cleared Ray City's own zone 9a and its 286-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ray City?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 1 — 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 Ray City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ray City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RAY CITY SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- R K FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- SOUTHERN RECYCLING INDUSTRIES INCBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- UNKNOWNUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ONE STOP 5Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- 20G016Nitrate · 1.4 mi
- 20G036Nitrate · 2.2 mi
- TRI COUNTY GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- CROSSROAD PANTRYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- 20G003Nitrate · 3.6 mi
- JOHN ROBERSON SERVICE CTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.3 mi
- LAKELAND OIL CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ray City'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 Ray City.
Total Sites
125
within ~10 miles of Ray City
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ray City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ray City
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ray City, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Ray City — PFAS (4 sites) and Nitrate (40 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.
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 Ray City
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 Ray City average
Your land is one point inside Ray City
Everything above resolves to Ray City as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 733 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Berrien 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 Ray City Average
Ray City Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Ray City
- ●One soil character for all of Ray City
- ●Frost dates read at Ray City's scale: Feb 18 to Dec 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ray City's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ray City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ray City, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ray City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ray City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ray City average
How we know this about Ray City
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 Berrien 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 Ray City
When does frost risk typically end in Ray City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ray City typically lands around Feb 18, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Ray City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ray City typically arrives around Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 17, so the watching starts about Nov 1 — about 286 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ray City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ray City sees about 286 frost-free days — roughly Feb 18 through Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 11 to Nov 17, about 251 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ray City?
The federal record around Ray City is a meaningful one — 125 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (67), 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 Ray City?
From about Nov 1 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 1 (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 1. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ray City's scale — its 9a band and its 286-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ray City'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 Ray City’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Ray City's own scale — the 733 acres it covers and 125 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ray City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 125 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ray City, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ray City's boundary and the 733 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~286-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ray City's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Ray City has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Berrien County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ray City's 733 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Berrien County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Berrien 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 Berrien County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ray City's 733 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ray City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 733 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 Ray City-wide figureread your own land →
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