South Mansfield, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in South Mansfield, 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 South Mansfield 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 South Mansfield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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South Mansfield — the short answer
South Mansfield, Louisiana: USDA zone 8b, about 282 days between hard freezes, across 435 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 21
- De Soto Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 30
- De Soto Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~282
- De Soto Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 435 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 De Soto Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is South Mansfield's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against South Mansfield's 282-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in South Mansfield
Each reading below is measured for South Mansfield itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSouth Mansfield runs about 282 days between hard freezes (read from De Soto Parish, the closest normal to South Mansfield) — 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
MeasuredSouth Mansfield 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 South Mansfield is in
South Mansfield sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at South Mansfield's own centroid rather than borrowed from De Soto Parish.
What Grows in South Mansfield
Every plant below cleared South Mansfield's own zone 8b and its 282-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in South Mansfield?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 30 — 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 South Mansfield
Closest first, within ~10 miles of South Mansfield. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Mansfield GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- JW OPERATING COBrownfields · 1800 ft
- Quik-PicUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- JACKIE BEDSOLE TIMBER INCBrownfields · 2500 ft
- DeSoto Ventures Unlimited LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- PICKETT GARAGEBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- Hensley Industries Inc - Mansfield Foundry DivisionUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- HENSLEY INDUSTRIES INC - MANSFIELD FOUNDRY DIVISIONToxics Release Inventory · 0.7 mi
- HENSLEY INDUSTRIES INC - MANSFIELD FOUNDRY DIVISIONBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- NASHS BODY SHOPBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- SOUTHWESTERN ELECTRIC POWER CO (SWEPCO) SERVICE CENTERBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- Catuna GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from South Mansfield'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 South Mansfield.
Total Sites
197
within ~10 miles of South Mansfield
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of South Mansfield
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of South Mansfield
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around South Mansfield, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 82 sites within ~10 miles of South Mansfield. 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 South Mansfield
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 South Mansfield average
Your land is one point inside South Mansfield
Everything above resolves to South Mansfield as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 435 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from De Soto 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 South Mansfield Average
South Mansfield Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across South Mansfield
- ●One soil character for all of South Mansfield
- ●Frost dates read at South Mansfield's scale: Feb 21 to Nov 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not South Mansfield's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in South Mansfield
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in South Mansfield, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that South Mansfield averages can't show:
We read public map data around South Mansfield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the South Mansfield average
How we know this about South Mansfield
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 De Soto 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 South Mansfield
When does frost risk typically end in South Mansfield?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in South Mansfield typically lands around Feb 21, 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 14.
When is the first frost in South Mansfield?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in South Mansfield typically arrives around Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 16, so the watching starts about Oct 31 — about 282 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in South Mansfield?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, South Mansfield sees about 282 frost-free days — roughly Feb 21 through Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 14 to Nov 16, about 247 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in South Mansfield?
The federal record around South Mansfield shows 197 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (82), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in South Mansfield?
From about Oct 31 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 30 (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 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at South Mansfield's scale — its 8b band and its 282-day season. Your yard writes its own version of South Mansfield'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 South Mansfield’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at South Mansfield's own scale — the 435 acres it covers and 197 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- South Mansfield's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 197 documented contamination sites on the federal record near South Mansfield, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- South Mansfield's boundary and the 435 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~282-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at South Mansfield's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — South Mansfield has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom De Soto Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so South Mansfield's 435 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom De Soto County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom De Soto 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 De Soto County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among South Mansfield's 435 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of South Mansfield you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 435 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 South Mansfield-wide figureread your own land →
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