What Grows in Sale Creek, Tennessee

USDA Zones 7b · 19K acres

Sale Creek, Tennessee, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.

The conditions favor cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.

Score your parcel · free

Even in Sale Creek, 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 Sale Creek 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 Sale Creek — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

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Sale Creek — the short answer

Sale Creek, Tennessee: USDA zone 7b, about 241 days between hard freezes, across 19K acres of town.

USDA zone
7b
USDA PHZM 2023
Last hard freeze (28°F)
Mar 18
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
First hard freeze (28°F)
Nov 14
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
Days between freezes
~241
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
Town area
19K acres
US Census TIGER/Line 2025

Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.

Hardiness Zone Range

7b7b
3a (Cold)13b (Hot)
Your USDA zone 7bSee the zone map →

Zone 7b is Sale Creek's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Sale Creek's 241-day season, see what your own ground reads.

Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.

What this means for growing in Sale Creek

Each reading below is measured for Sale Creek itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.

Season length

Measured

Sale Creek runs about 241 days between hard freezes — 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.

Making the most of a long season

NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals

Winter hardiness

Measured

Sale Creek sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b.

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.

How hardiness zones work

USDA PHZM 2023

The kind of country Sale Creek is in

Sale Creek sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Sale Creek's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hamilton County.

What that means for soil

What Grows in Sale Creek

Every plant below cleared Sale Creek's own zone 7b and its 241-day season. Each card opens that plant's Tennessee profile. How we score.

cabbage, photograph
Growing cabbage in TennesseeZones 2–11Sale Creek's 7b — 5 zones of cold margin.
prickly pear, photograph
Tennessee prickly pear guideZones 5–10Sale Creek's 7b — 2 zones of cold margin.
California poppy, photograph
California poppy in TennesseeZones 6–10Sale Creek's 7b — 1 zone of cold margin.
collard greens, photograph
Collard greens: Tennessee growing notesZones 2–11Sale Creek's 7b — 5 zones of cold margin.
fig, photograph
Growing fig in TennesseeZones 6–10Sale Creek's 7b — 1 zone of cold margin.
lavender, photograph
Tennessee lavender guideZones 5–8Sale Creek's 7b — 2 zones of cold margin.
garlic, photograph
Garlic in TennesseeZones 2–10Sale Creek's 7b — 5 zones of cold margin.
grape, photograph
Grape: Tennessee growing notesZones 6–9Sale Creek's 7b — 1 zone of cold margin.
Turkish rocket, photograph
Growing turkish rocket in TennesseeSale Creek's 241 days clear the ~90 it needs.
kale, photograph
Tennessee kale guideZones 2–11Sale Creek's 7b — 5 zones of cold margin.
hazelnut, photograph
Hazelnut in TennesseeZones 4–9Sale Creek's 7b — 3 zones of cold margin.
lentil, photograph
Lentil: Tennessee growing notesZones 2–11Sale Creek's 241 days clear the ~70 it needs.
pawpaw, photograph
Growing pawpaw in TennesseeZones 5–9Sale Creek's 7b — 2 zones of cold margin.
okra, photograph
Tennessee okra guideZones 2–12Sale Creek's 241 days clear the ~50 it needs.
potato, photograph
Potato in TennesseeZones 2–11Sale Creek's 7b — 5 zones of cold margin.
iris, photograph
Iris: Tennessee growing notesZones 3–10Sale Creek's 7b — 4 zones of cold margin.
sunflower, photograph
Growing sunflower in TennesseeZones 2–11Sale Creek's 241 days clear the ~70 it needs.
Apache plume, photograph
Tennessee apache plume guideZones 5–11Sale Creek's 7b — 2 zones of cold margin.
hops, photograph
Hops in TennesseeZones 3–8Sale Creek's 7b — 4 zones of cold margin.
hosta, photograph
Hosta: Tennessee growing notesZones 3–8Sale Creek's 7b — 4 zones of cold margin.
French marigold, photograph
Growing french marigold in TennesseeSale Creek's 241 days clear the ~50 it needs.
holly, photograph
Tennessee holly guideZones 5–11Sale Creek's 7b — 2 zones of cold margin.
Virginia creeper, photograph
Virginia creeper in TennesseeZones 3–9Sale Creek's 7b — 4 zones of cold margin.
tulip, photograph
Tulip: Tennessee growing notesZones 6–8Sale Creek's 7b — 1 zone of cold margin.
Douglas fir, photograph
Growing douglas fir in TennesseeZones 4–10Sale Creek's 7b — 3 zones of cold margin.
Ethiopian mustard, photograph
Tennessee ethiopian mustard guideZones 4–10Sale Creek's 7b — 3 zones of cold margin.
Kentucky bluegrass, botanical illustration
Kentucky bluegrass in TennesseeZones 2–7Sale Creek's 7b — 5 zones of cold margin.
redbud, photograph
Redbud: Tennessee growing notesZones 5–11Sale Creek's 7b — 2 zones of cold margin.
Japanese millet, photograph
Growing japanese millet in TennesseeZones 5–10Sale Creek's 241 days clear the ~45 it needs.
ajuga, photograph
Tennessee ajuga guideZones 5–11Sale Creek's 7b — 2 zones of cold margin.

Is it too late to plant in Sale Creek?

Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 14 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. A long window like this one runs successions deep into fall — and even its last weeks take quick greens and garlic.

Documented around Sale Creek

Survey cells within 31 miles of Sale Creek checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 93 miles off. What to watch for.

What's on the federal record near Sale Creek

Closest first, within ~10 miles of Sale Creek. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.

  1. Burton Lumber CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
  2. Bill Gothard Auto PartsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
  3. Favorite Market #78Underground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
  4. Sale Creek MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
  5. Hm:V-030Nitrate · 1.6 mi
  6. Mapco #3667Underground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
  7. H W WelchUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
  8. DBA PJ's Food MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
  9. Browns Pit StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
  10. Sale Creek Marina MulitboatingUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
  11. Dotsons Fruit MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
  12. W M FullerUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi

6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map

Measured from Sale Creek'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 Sale Creek.

Total Sites

131

within ~10 miles of Sale Creek

Risk Level

Elevated

Highest-severity

2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)

Explore the live map
Underground Storage Tanks92Nitrate18Brownfields10Toxics Release Inventory6PFAS3

Sources Checked

within ~10 miles of Sale Creek

Severity Distribution

within ~10 miles of Sale Creek

High0Moderate49Low82

Highest-Severity Sites

Circle K Store No. 4703607
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
Circle K Store No. 4703600
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
Dba Pj'S Food Mart
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
Harry'S No.14
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
Harry'S No. 26
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)

A note from Gnorman

What an experienced grower watches for around here

In and around Sale Creek, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Sale Creek — PFAS (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (92 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.

read your soil before you plantcontrol your inputs in containersbuild up with a clean-soil raised bedSee what's flagged near Sale Creek
Explore the contamination map around Sale Creek·Tennessee Growing Guide
Free Report

Check your specific parcel in Sale Creek

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 Sale Creek average

Your land is one point inside Sale Creek

Everything above resolves to Sale Creek as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 19K acres. 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 Sale Creek Average

Sale Creek Average

  • ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Sale Creek
  • ●One soil character for all of Sale Creek
  • ●Frost dates read at Sale Creek's scale: Mar 18 to Nov 14

YOUR Parcel

  • ✓Your exact zone, not Sale Creek's 7b
  • ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
  • ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D

See MY Growing Report

Free Report

Read your specific parcel in Sale Creek

Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Sale Creek, Tennessee — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.

Three things about your lot that Sale Creek averages can't show:

Your soil pHYour frost-free days — Sale Creek averages 241Your sun & shade

We read public map data around Sale Creek — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

25+ data sources read at your address, not the Sale Creek average

How we know this about Sale Creek

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 Sale Creek’s own record; 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 Sale Creek

When does frost risk typically end in Sale Creek?

The last hard freeze (28°F) in Sale Creek typically lands around Mar 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 Apr 8.

When is the first frost in Sale Creek?

The first hard freeze (28°F) in Sale Creek typically arrives around Nov 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 31, so the watching starts about Oct 15 — about 241 days after the spring freeze cleared.

How long is the growing season in Sale Creek?

Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Sale Creek sees about 241 frost-free days — roughly Mar 18 through Nov 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 8 to Oct 31, about 206 days.

Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Sale Creek?

The federal record around Sale Creek is a meaningful one — 131 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (92), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 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 Sale Creek?

From about Oct 15 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 14 (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 14. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.

Everything above is measured at Sale Creek's scale — its 7b band and its 241-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Sale Creek'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 Sale Creek’s own scale

7 of the readings below were taken at Sale Creek's own scale — its own ~241-day season between 28°F freezes, the 19,290 acres it covers and 131 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.

Measured here

  • Sale Creek's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
  • Sale Creek's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 18 and Nov 14 and the ~241-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
  • 131 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Sale Creek, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
  • Sale Creek's boundary and the 19,290 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
  • Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~241-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
  • The ecoregion at Sale Creek's own centroid, the Ridge and ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
  • Lanternfly survey cells around Sale Creek checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice

Inherited from a wider read

  • Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Sale Creek's 19,290 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hamilton County
  • Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hamilton County
  • The growing challenges every Tennessee grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Tennessee
  • Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Hamilton County

What this page can’t tell you

  • The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Sale Creek's 19,290 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
  • Which side of Sale Creek you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 19,290 acresreading your own microclimate →
  • How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 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 Sale Creek-wide figureread your own land →
The next step finer is your own address

More in Tennessee

Hamilton County Growing Guide·Tennessee Growing Guide
USDA PHZM•NOAA Climate Normals•US Census TIGER•PRISM Climate•EPA FRS