Jefferson County, in Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Jefferson County lies within the Loess Bluffs / Natchez District — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Jefferson County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Jefferson County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Jefferson County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Jefferson County — the short answer
Jefferson County, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 286 days between hard freezes, across 333K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~286
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 333K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Jefferson County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Jefferson County's 286-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Jefferson County
Across a year, Jefferson County accumulates about 5,775 growing degree days above 50°F, about 377 more than the middle Mississippi county — ahead of 64 of Mississippi’s 82 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Winter banks about 880 hours below 45°F, 312 fewer than the Mississippi middle of 1,192. Chill is what tells a fruit tree its dormancy is over, and it is set by climate rather than by anything you can build.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Jefferson County
Across Jefferson County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Memphis, Natchez, and Smithdale are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.0–5.3, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
13%
Hydric soils
5%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Jefferson County
The USDA soil survey maps 63% of Jefferson County as well drained — but another 35% drains differently: 22% moderately well drained, 8% somewhat poorly drained.
Memphis is the most extensive named soil at 36% of mapped acres, then Natchez (9%) and Smithdale (9%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Jefferson County
Each reading below is measured for Jefferson County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Jefferson County are well drained, in hydrologic group B — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Jefferson County runs about pH 5.0–5.3, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredJefferson County runs about 286 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredJefferson County 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 Jefferson County is in
Jefferson County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Mississippi Valley Loess Plains (89%) and Mississippi Alluvial Plain (11%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Jefferson County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Jefferson County's own USDA zone 8b and its own 286-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile.
Is it too late to plant in Jefferson County?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 16 (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. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What gets applied to farmland in Jefferson County
USGS estimates 3,592 lb of Glyphosate on Jefferson County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of 2,4-d (3,068 lb) and Acephate (1,458 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Jefferson County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Jefferson County — 57 documented sites across 5 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 1 Toxics Release Inventory facility. Active industrial facilities reporting chemical releases to air, water, and land.
The federal record across Jefferson County is a modest one — a typical footprint for a growing area. Nothing here calls for alarm; it's worth knowing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and each one on the map carries its type and location. If one turns out to be a near neighbor, a one-time soil test settles the question.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Jefferson County
Closest first, across Jefferson County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- People's Self ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Zip ZapUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Triangle Mart #100583Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- 063H0002 JEFFERSONNitrate · 1.8 mi
- J J's Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- SNB Brothers IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- Jefferson Feed & SeedUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- Tuckers ChevronUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- Sprint Mart #66Underground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- Lust FayetteUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- Fayette C O 76105Underground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- City Of FayetteUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Jefferson County'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 Jefferson County.
Total Sites
57
across Jefferson County
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
across Jefferson County
Severity Distribution
across Jefferson County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Jefferson County, two things run higher than the national average across Jefferson County — PFAS (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (42 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Jefferson County
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 Jefferson County average
Your land is one point inside Jefferson County
Everything above resolves to Jefferson County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 333K acres. 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Jefferson County Average
Jefferson County Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Jefferson County
- ●One soil character for all of Jefferson County
- ●Frost dates read at Jefferson County's scale: Feb 16 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Jefferson County's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Jefferson County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Jefferson County, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Jefferson County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Jefferson County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Jefferson County average
How we know this about Jefferson County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Jefferson County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Jefferson County
When does frost risk typically end in Jefferson County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Jefferson County typically lands around Feb 16, 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 9.
How long is the growing season in Jefferson County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Jefferson County sees about 286 frost-free days — roughly Feb 16 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 9 to Nov 15, about 251 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Jefferson County?
The federal record around Jefferson County shows 57 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (42), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 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.
Everything above is measured at Jefferson County's scale — its 8b band and its 286-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Jefferson County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Mississippi's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Jefferson County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Jefferson County's own scale — its own ~286-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 57 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Jefferson County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Jefferson County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~286-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Jefferson CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 57 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Jefferson County's boundary and the 332,757 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~286-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Jefferson County spans, Mississippi Valley Loess Plains the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Jefferson County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Mississippi grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Mississippi
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Jefferson County — the ~286 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Jefferson County's 332,757 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 57 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Jefferson Countyread your own land →