Hammond, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hammond, 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 Hammond 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 Hammond — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hammond — the short answer
Hammond, Louisiana: USDA zone 9a, about 291 days between hard freezes, across 9K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 15
- Tangipahoa Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 3
- Tangipahoa Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~291
- Tangipahoa Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 9K 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 Tangipahoa Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Hammond's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hammond's 291-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hammond
Each reading below is measured for Hammond itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHammond runs about 291 days between hard freezes (read from Tangipahoa Parish, the closest normal to Hammond) — 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
MeasuredHammond 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 Hammond is in
Hammond sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Hammond's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Tangipahoa Parish is mostly Southeastern Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Hammond
Every plant below cleared Hammond's own zone 9a and its 291-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hammond?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 3 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Hammond
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hammond. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Dave's Full Service Automotive IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Anthon Chiropractiic CareUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- DAVES 200 SHELL SVC INCBrownfields · 700 ft
- ANTHON CHIROPRACTIIC CAREBrownfields · 750 ft
- Griffin Industries IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- On The Run #10Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- HENKEL INCBrownfields · 1200 ft
- MICHAEL CANAL & SONSBrownfields · 1200 ft
- Williams & Son ProduceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- RAGUSA BROS CONSTR COBrownfields · 1400 ft
- Preservation Properties LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- TALLO TIRE & AUTOMOTIVE INCBrownfields · 1500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hammond'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 Hammond.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hammond
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hammond
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Hammond
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 Hammond average
Your land is one point inside Hammond
Everything above resolves to Hammond as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 9K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Tangipahoa Parish’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 Hammond Average
Hammond Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Hammond
- ●One soil character for all of Hammond
- ●Frost dates read at Hammond's scale: Feb 15 to Dec 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hammond's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hammond
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hammond, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hammond averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hammond — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hammond average
How we know this about Hammond
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 Tangipahoa Parish’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 Hammond
When does frost risk typically end in Hammond?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hammond typically lands around Feb 15, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Hammond?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hammond typically arrives around Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 19, so the watching starts about Nov 3 — about 291 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hammond?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hammond sees about 291 frost-free days — roughly Feb 15 through Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 8 to Nov 19, about 256 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hammond?
The federal record around Hammond is a meaningful one — 748 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (298), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Hammond?
From about Nov 3 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 3 (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 3. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hammond's scale — its 9a band and its 291-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hammond'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 Hammond’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Hammond's own scale — the 9,121 acres it covers and 748 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hammond's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 748 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hammond, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hammond's boundary and the 9,121 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~291-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Hammond sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Hammond has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Tangipahoa Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hammond's 9,121 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Tangipahoa County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Tangipahoa County
- The growing challenges every Louisiana grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Louisiana
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Tangipahoa County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hammond's 9,121 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hammond you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 9,121 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Hammond-wide figureread your own land →
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