🌊 Creek  · 
Five Mile Creek

Zone 7b running into 8a, on creek bottomland that drains unevenly and holds a little more frost-free time than the ridges above it. The whole year hangs off two dates: the last spring frost around March 20 and the first fall frost around November 15.

This month

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Next frost date

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Ground · Cardiff

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Rain · This month

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What to do now

This month

Bottomland

Local conditions

Why the bottoms behave differently

Cold air is heavier than warm air and runs downhill at night, so it pools in the low ground along the creek. That is why a bottomland garden can take a frost on a night the ridge above it escapes, even though the same bottoms hold moisture and warmth better through the day. Plant the tender things on the higher edge of the plot if you have the choice.

The planting year

Twelve months, one line each

Dates and spacing

Frost
The two dates everything hangs off
Last spring frostAround Mar 20
First fall frostAround Nov 15
Growing season
Zone7b to 8a
Averages, not promises. The ridges feel the first frost before the bottoms do, and a late cold snap after the spring date happens often enough to plan around.

Sowing depth and spacing

Extension figures

Spacing, sowing depth, and days to maturity for every vegetable grown in this state are published by the Alabama Cooperative Extension System and kept current. Rather than copy a table that goes stale, this page points at theirs.

Planting guide for home gardening in Alabama, and the month by month Alabama gardener's calendar.

Where this comes from Planting timing follows the Alabama Cooperative Extension System planting guide for Central Alabama. Frost dates are the ones this site already keeps in its season calendar, around March 20 and around November 15, and they are averages rather than deadlines. Ground condition and rain totals come from the weather station in Cardiff. The packet photograph is somebody else's work, usually a United States Department of Agriculture picture in the public domain, and it is credited to the photographer who took it. A crop this site has no photograph of does not get a packet.