Chunky, Mississippi, 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.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Chunky, 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 Chunky 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 Chunky — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Chunky — the short answer
Chunky, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 268 days between hard freezes, across 534 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 27
- Newton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 22
- Newton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~268
- Newton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 534 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 Newton County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Chunky's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Chunky's 268-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Chunky
Each reading below is measured for Chunky itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsChunky runs about 268 days between hard freezes (read from Newton County, the closest normal to Chunky) — 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
MeasuredChunky 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 Chunky is in
Chunky sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Chunky's own centroid rather than borrowed from Newton County.
What Grows in Chunky
Every plant below cleared Chunky's own zone 8b and its 268-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Chunky?
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 Jan 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 22 — 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 Chunky
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Chunky. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Bst Chunky Co 74303Underground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- Lou's Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Chas Nixon Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Hickory Farms EquipmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- 101Q0002 NEWTONNitrate · 1.2 mi
- Roadside Gas & GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- 101M0008 NEWTONNitrate · 2.5 mi
- 075Q0001 LAUDERDALENitrate · 5.3 mi
- T & D Middle StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.3 mi
- Bst Hickory Co 74106Underground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
- Hickory Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
- 101L0002 NEWTONNitrate · 5.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Chunky'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 Chunky.
Total Sites
32
within ~10 miles of Chunky
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
12 nitrate monitoring sites
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Chunky
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Chunky
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Chunky, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 12 sites within ~10 miles of Chunky. 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 Chunky
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 Chunky average
Your land is one point inside Chunky
Everything above resolves to Chunky as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 534 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Newton 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 Chunky Average
Chunky Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Chunky
- ●One soil character for all of Chunky
- ●Frost dates read at Chunky's scale: Feb 27 to Nov 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Chunky's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Chunky
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Chunky, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Chunky averages can't show:
We read public map data around Chunky — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Chunky average
How we know this about Chunky
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 Newton 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 Chunky
When does frost risk typically end in Chunky?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Chunky typically lands around Feb 27, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Chunky?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Chunky typically arrives around Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 8, so the watching starts about Oct 23 — about 268 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Chunky?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Chunky sees about 268 frost-free days — roughly Feb 27 through Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 20 to Nov 8, about 233 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Chunky?
The federal record around Chunky shows 32 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (19), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Chunky?
From about Oct 23 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Chunky's scale — its 8b band and its 268-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Chunky'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 Chunky’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Chunky's own scale — the 534 acres it covers and 32 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Chunky's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 32 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Chunky, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Chunky's boundary and the 534 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~268-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Chunky's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Chunky has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Newton County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Chunky's 534 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Newton County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Newton 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 Newton County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Chunky's 534 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Chunky you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 534 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 Chunky-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiChunky sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides