Big Point, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Big Point, 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 Big Point 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 Big Point — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Big Point — the short answer
Big Point, Mississippi: USDA zone 9a, about 298 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 11
- Jackson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Jackson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~298
- Jackson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Jackson County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Big Point's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Big Point's 298-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Big Point
Each reading below is measured for Big Point itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBig Point runs about 298 days between hard freezes (read from Jackson County, the closest normal to Big Point) — 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
MeasuredBig Point 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 Big Point is in
Big Point sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Big Point's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Jackson County is mostly Southern Coastal Plain. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Big Point
Every plant below cleared Big Point's own zone 9a and its 298-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Big Point?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 6 — 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 Big Point
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Big Point. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 059H0014 JACKSONNitrate · 500 ft
- 059H0017 JACKSONNitrate · 1200 ft
- Big Point Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- HURLEY AUTO SERVICEBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- 059H0012 JACKSONNitrate · 1.5 mi
- 059H0053 JACKSONNitrate · 2.3 mi
- Shields GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- 059M0064 JACKSONNitrate · 2.8 mi
- JACKSON CO UTILITY AUTHORITY-EASTPFAS · 3.0 mi
- 059H0004 JACKSONNitrate · 3.2 mi
- 059M0192 JACKSONNitrate · 3.5 mi
- 059M0005 JACKSONNitrate · 3.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Big Point'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 Big Point.
Total Sites
152
within ~10 miles of Big Point
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Big Point
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Big Point
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Big Point, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 88 sites within ~10 miles of Big Point. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Big Point
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 Big Point average
Your land is one point inside Big Point
Everything above resolves to Big Point as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Jackson County’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 Big Point Average
Big Point Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Big Point
- ●One soil character for all of Big Point
- ●Frost dates read at Big Point's scale: Feb 11 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Big Point's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Big Point
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Big Point, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Big Point averages can't show:
We read public map data around Big Point — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Big Point average
How we know this about Big Point
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 Jackson County’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 Big Point
When does frost risk typically end in Big Point?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Big Point typically lands around Feb 11, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Big Point?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Big Point typically arrives around Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 22, so the watching starts about Nov 6 — about 298 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Big Point?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Big Point sees about 298 frost-free days — roughly Feb 11 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 4 to Nov 22, about 263 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Big Point?
The federal record around Big Point shows 152 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (88), the nearest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile 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 Big Point?
From about Nov 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Big Point's scale — its 9a band and its 298-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Big Point'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 Big Point’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Big Point's own scale — the 1,881 acres it covers and 152 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Big Point's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 152 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Big Point, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Big Point's boundary and the 1,881 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~298-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Big Point sits in the Southeastern Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Big Point has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Jackson County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Big Point's 1,881 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 Mississippi grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Mississippi
- 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 Big Point's 1,881 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Big Point you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,881 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Big Point-wide figureread your own land →
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