Tuckerman, Arkansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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.
Even in Tuckerman, 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 Tuckerman 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 Tuckerman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Tuckerman — the short answer
Tuckerman, Arkansas: USDA zone 8a, about 263 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~263
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 2K 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
Zone 8a is Tuckerman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Tuckerman's 263-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Tuckerman
Each reading below is measured for Tuckerman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredTuckerman runs about 263 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredTuckerman sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Tuckerman is in
Tuckerman sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Tuckerman's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jackson County.
What Grows in Tuckerman
Every plant below cleared Tuckerman's own zone 8a and its 263-day season. Each card opens that plant's Arkansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Tuckerman?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 23 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Tuckerman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Tuckerman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 13N02W28DDC1Nitrate · 900 ft
- 13N02W28DDD1Nitrate · 1200 ft
- 13N02W28DDD2Nitrate · 1200 ft
- TUCKERMAN PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- MIDWAY ARKANSASUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- TUCKERMAN STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- T RICKSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- TUCKERMAN FOOD STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- GEORGE KELL MOTORS INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- KELL, GEORGE MOTORS INCBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- JAMES W. GILLEYLEN OIL CO., INUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- EZ MART #4315Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Tuckerman'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 Tuckerman.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Tuckerman
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Tuckerman
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Tuckerman, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 38 sites within ~10 miles of Tuckerman. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Tuckerman
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 Tuckerman average
Your land is one point inside Tuckerman
Everything above resolves to Tuckerman as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 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 Tuckerman Average
Tuckerman Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Tuckerman
- ●One soil character for all of Tuckerman
- ●Frost dates read at Tuckerman's scale: Mar 5 to Nov 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Tuckerman's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Tuckerman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Tuckerman, Arkansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Tuckerman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Tuckerman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Tuckerman average
How we know this about Tuckerman
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 Tuckerman’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 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 Tuckerman
When does frost risk typically end in Tuckerman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Tuckerman typically lands around Mar 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Tuckerman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Tuckerman typically arrives around Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 9, so the watching starts about Oct 24 — about 263 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Tuckerman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Tuckerman sees about 263 frost-free days — roughly Mar 5 through Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 26 to Nov 9, about 228 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Tuckerman?
The federal record around Tuckerman is a meaningful one — 135 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (74), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.2 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 Tuckerman?
From about Oct 24 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Tuckerman's scale — its 8a band and its 263-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Tuckerman'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 Tuckerman’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Tuckerman's own scale — its own ~263-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,713 acres it covers and 135 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Tuckerman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Tuckerman's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 5 and Nov 23 and the ~263-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 135 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Tuckerman, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Tuckerman's boundary and the 1,713 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~263-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Tuckerman's own centroid, the Mississippi Alluvial PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Tuckerman's 1,713 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jackson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jackson County
- The growing challenges every Arkansas grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Arkansas
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Jackson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Tuckerman's 1,713 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Tuckerman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,713 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 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 Tuckerman-wide figureread your own land →
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