Martin, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Martin, 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 Martin 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 Martin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Martin — the short answer
Martin, Louisiana: USDA zone 8b, about 280 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 22
- Red River Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- Red River Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~280
- Red River Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 7K 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 Red River Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Martin's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Martin's 280-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Martin
Each reading below is measured for Martin itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMartin runs about 280 days between hard freezes (read from Red River Parish, the closest normal to Martin) — 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
MeasuredMartin sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 Martin is in
Martin sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Martin's own centroid rather than borrowed from Red River Parish.
What Grows in Martin
Every plant below cleared Martin's own zone 8b and its 280-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Martin?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 29 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Martin
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Martin. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Kitching's GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Carlisle's GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- RR-229Nitrate · 2200 ft
- RR-230Nitrate · 2400 ft
- AT&T (La 1970)Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- RR-232Nitrate · 1.3 mi
- RR-90Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- RR-231Nitrate · 1.6 mi
- RR-26Nitrate · 2.0 mi
- RR-97Nitrate · 2.0 mi
- RR-278Nitrate · 3.4 mi
- RR-134Nitrate · 4.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Martin'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 Martin.
Total Sites
203
within ~10 miles of Martin
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Martin
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Martin
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Martin, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 124 sites within ~10 miles of Martin. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Martin
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 Martin average
Your land is one point inside Martin
Everything above resolves to Martin as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 7K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Red River Parish’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’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 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 Martin Average
Martin Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Martin
- ●One soil character for all of Martin
- ●Frost dates read at Martin's scale: Feb 22 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Martin's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Martin
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Martin, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Martin averages can't show:
We read public map data around Martin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Martin average
How we know this about Martin
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 Red River 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 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 Martin
When does frost risk typically end in Martin?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Martin typically lands around Feb 22, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Martin?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Martin typically arrives around Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 15, so the watching starts about Oct 30 — about 280 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Martin?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Martin sees about 280 frost-free days — roughly Feb 22 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 15 to Nov 15, about 245 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Martin?
The federal record around Martin is a meaningful one — 203 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (124), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Martin?
From about Oct 30 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Martin's scale — its 8b band and its 280-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Martin'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 Martin’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Martin's own scale — the 7,392 acres it covers and 203 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Martin's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 203 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Martin, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Martin's boundary and the 7,392 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~280-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Martin's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Martin has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Red River Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Martin's 7,392 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Red River County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Red River 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 Red River County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Martin's 7,392 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Martin you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,392 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Martin-wide figureread your own land →
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