Southampton County, in Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Southampton County lies within Tidewater & Chesapeake — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Southampton County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Southampton County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Southampton County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Southampton County — the short answer
Southampton County, Virginia: USDA zone 8a, about 241 days between hard freezes, across 384K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~241
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 384K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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
Zone 8a is Southampton County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Southampton County's 241-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Southampton County
Across a year, Southampton County accumulates about 4,380 growing degree days above 50°F, about 646 more than the middle Virginia county — ahead of 120 of Virginia’s 133 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Winter banks about 1,814 hours below 45°F, 624 fewer than the Virginia middle of 2,438. Chill is what tells a fruit tree its dormancy is over, and it is set by climate rather than by anything you can build.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Southampton County
Across Southampton County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Slagle, Emporia, and Bibb are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally moderately well drained with a fine sandy loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.7–5.8, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Moderately well drained
Prime farmland
47%
Hydric soils
26%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Southampton County
The USDA soil survey maps 40% of Southampton County as moderately well drained — but another 59% drains differently: 26% well drained, 24% poorly drained.
Slagle is the most extensive named soil at 25% of mapped acres, then Emporia (14%) and Bibb (8%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Southampton County
Each reading below is measured for Southampton County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Southampton County are moderately well drained, in hydrologic group C — roughly the middle of the drainage range.
This is close to the middle most vegetables prefer: it holds enough water to carry a crop between rains without staying waterlogged. The catch is that a wet spring or a low corner can still tip it soggy.
Plant on the site as-is for most crops, but keep the lowest, slowest-draining beds for moisture-tolerant plantings.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Southampton County runs about pH 4.7–5.8, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Wet ground
MeasuredAbout 26% of Southampton County is mapped as hydric — wetland — soil.
If your lot falls in one of those pockets, a standard in-ground bed will fight waterlogging all season, and roots that need air will struggle.
Check how your own ground drains before you dig; raised beds or moisture-loving plantings turn a wet corner from a problem into a niche.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredSouthampton County 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.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
The kind of country Southampton County is in
Southampton County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain (54%) and Southeastern Plains (46%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Southampton County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Southampton County's own USDA zone 8a and its own 241-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Virginia profile.
Is it too late to plant in Southampton County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 15 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
Documented around Southampton County
Spotted lanternfly documented 26 miles from Southampton County, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What gets applied to farmland in Southampton County
USGS estimates 121,128 lb of Glyphosate on Southampton County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Acetochlor (59,640 lb) and Acephate (44,589 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Southampton County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Southampton County — 176 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 8 Toxics Release Inventory facilities. Active industrial facilities reporting chemical releases to air, water, and land.
The federal record across Southampton County is a modest one — a typical footprint for a growing area. Nothing here calls for alarm; it's worth knowing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and each one on the map carries its type and location. If one turns out to be a near neighbor, a one-time soil test settles the question.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Southampton County
Closest first, across Southampton County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- VDOT Franklin ResidencyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- FLOWERS ExxonUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- SOUTHAMPTON HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- SOUTHAMPTON MIDDLE SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- HANCOCK PEANUT COMPANY, LPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- SOUTHAMPTON COUNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- BUS GARAGE / PUBLIC WORKSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- J.L. ROSE HOG MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- 54B 4Nitrate · 1.9 mi
- FRANKLIN-VORUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- COURTLAND ELEMENTARY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- VDF - COURTLANDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Southampton County'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 Southampton County.
Total Sites
176
across Southampton County
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
8 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
across Southampton County
Severity Distribution
across Southampton County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Southampton County, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 126 sites across Southampton County. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Southampton County
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 Southampton County average
Your land is one point inside Southampton County
Everything above resolves to Southampton County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 384K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Southampton County Average
Southampton County Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Southampton County
- ●One soil character for all of Southampton County
- ●Frost dates read at Southampton County's scale: Mar 19 to Nov 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Southampton County's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Southampton County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Southampton County, Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Southampton County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Southampton County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Southampton County average
How we know this about Southampton County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Southampton County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Southampton County
When does frost risk typically end in Southampton County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Southampton County typically lands around Mar 19, 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 9.
How long is the growing season in Southampton County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Southampton County sees about 241 frost-free days — roughly Mar 19 through Nov 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 9 to Nov 1, about 206 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Southampton County?
The federal record around Southampton County shows 176 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (126), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
Everything above is measured at Southampton County's scale — its 8a band and its 241-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Southampton County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Virginia's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Southampton County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Southampton County's own scale — its own ~241-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 176 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Southampton County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Southampton County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~241-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Southampton CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 176 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Southampton County's boundary and the 383,519 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~241-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Southampton County spans, Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Southampton County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Virginia grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Virginia
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Southampton County — the ~241 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Southampton County's 383,519 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 176 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Southampton Countyread your own land →