Columbus AFB, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Columbus AFB, 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 Columbus AFB 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 Columbus AFB — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Columbus AFB — the short answer
Columbus AFB, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 263 days between hard freezes, across 979 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 3
- Lowndes County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 21
- Lowndes County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~263
- Lowndes County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 979 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 Lowndes County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Columbus AFB's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Columbus AFB's 263-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Columbus AFB
Each reading below is measured for Columbus AFB itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsColumbus AFB runs about 263 days between hard freezes (read from Lowndes County, the closest normal to Columbus AFB) — 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
MeasuredColumbus AFB 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 Columbus AFB is in
Columbus AFB sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Columbus AFB's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lowndes County.
What Grows in Columbus AFB
Every plant below cleared Columbus AFB's own zone 8b and its 263-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Columbus AFB?
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 Feb 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 21 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Columbus AFB
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Columbus AFB. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 087A0011 LOWNDESNitrate · 500 ft
- 087A0009 LOWNDESNitrate · 850 ft
- 087A0010 LOWNDESNitrate · 1700 ft
- COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASEBrownfields · 1800 ft
- COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASEToxics Release Inventory · 1800 ft
- COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASESuperfund · 1800 ft
- TVA COLUMBUS REGENESYS PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 0.5 mi
- Land Road Food MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Aberdeen Road Pumping StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- J & B Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- Cal-kola IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- 087A0034 LOWNDESNitrate · 2.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Columbus AFB'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 Columbus AFB.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Columbus AFB
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Columbus AFB
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Columbus AFB, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 3 sites within ~10 miles of Columbus AFB. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Columbus AFB
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 Columbus AFB average
Your land is one point inside Columbus AFB
Everything above resolves to Columbus AFB as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 979 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lowndes 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 Columbus AFB Average
Columbus AFB Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Columbus AFB
- ●One soil character for all of Columbus AFB
- ●Frost dates read at Columbus AFB's scale: Mar 3 to Nov 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Columbus AFB's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Columbus AFB
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Columbus AFB, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Columbus AFB averages can't show:
We read public map data around Columbus AFB — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Columbus AFB average
How we know this about Columbus AFB
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 Lowndes 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 Columbus AFB
When does frost risk typically end in Columbus AFB?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Columbus AFB typically lands around Mar 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Columbus AFB?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Columbus AFB typically arrives around Nov 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 7, so the watching starts about Oct 22 — about 263 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Columbus AFB?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Columbus AFB sees about 263 frost-free days — roughly Mar 3 through Nov 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 24 to Nov 7, about 228 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Columbus AFB?
The federal record around Columbus AFB is a meaningful one — 290 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (163), the nearest Nitrate 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 Columbus AFB?
From about Oct 22 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Columbus AFB's scale — its 8b band and its 263-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Columbus AFB'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 Columbus AFB’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Columbus AFB's own scale — the 979 acres it covers and 290 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Columbus AFB's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 290 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Columbus AFB, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Columbus AFB's boundary and the 979 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~263-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Columbus AFB's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Columbus AFB has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lowndes County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Columbus AFB's 979 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lowndes County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lowndes 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 Lowndes County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Columbus AFB's 979 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Columbus AFB you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 979 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 Columbus AFB-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Growing region
Nearby growing guides