De Soto, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in De Soto, 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 De Soto 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 De Soto — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
De Soto — the short answer
De Soto, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 273 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 25
- Clarke County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 25
- Clarke County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~273
- Clarke 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 Clarke County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is De Soto's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against De Soto's 273-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in De Soto
Each reading below is measured for De Soto itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsDe Soto runs about 273 days between hard freezes (read from Clarke County, the closest normal to De Soto) — 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
MeasuredDe Soto 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 De Soto is in
De Soto sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at De Soto's own centroid rather than borrowed from Clarke County.
What Grows in De Soto
Every plant below cleared De Soto's own zone 8b and its 273-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in De Soto?
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 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 25 — 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 De Soto
Closest first, within ~10 miles of De Soto. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 023M0002 CLARKENitrate · 1200 ft
- 023M0001 CLARKENitrate · 1200 ft
- Desoto MercantileUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- 023M0003 CLARKENitrate · 1.0 mi
- Red Hill Grocery & Service StUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Countryside Farmers MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- Ms State Highway DepartmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- 023R0012 CLARKENitrate · 3.5 mi
- H C Watkins Memorial HospitalUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
- SUNBEAM-OSTER HOUSEHOLDToxics Release Inventory · 4.4 mi
- Quitman BpUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
- City Bp ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from De Soto'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 De Soto.
Total Sites
90
within ~10 miles of De Soto
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of De Soto
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of De Soto
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around De Soto, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of De Soto — Nitrate (26 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (56 sites). 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.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in De Soto
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 De Soto average
Your land is one point inside De Soto
Everything above resolves to De Soto as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Clarke 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 De Soto Average
De Soto Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across De Soto
- ●One soil character for all of De Soto
- ●Frost dates read at De Soto's scale: Feb 25 to Nov 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not De Soto's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in De Soto
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in De Soto, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that De Soto averages can't show:
We read public map data around De Soto — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the De Soto average
How we know this about De Soto
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 Clarke 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 De Soto
When does frost risk typically end in De Soto?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in De Soto typically lands around Feb 25, 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 18.
When is the first frost in De Soto?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in De Soto typically arrives around Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 11, so the watching starts about Oct 26 — about 273 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in De Soto?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, De Soto sees about 273 frost-free days — roughly Feb 25 through Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 18 to Nov 11, about 238 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in De Soto?
The federal record around De Soto shows 90 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (56), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.2 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 De Soto?
From about Oct 26 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at De Soto's scale — its 8b band and its 273-day season. Your yard writes its own version of De Soto'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 De Soto’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at De Soto's own scale — the 2,420 acres it covers and 90 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- De Soto's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 90 documented contamination sites on the federal record near De Soto, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- De Soto's boundary and the 2,420 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~273-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at De Soto's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — De Soto has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Clarke County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so De Soto's 2,420 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Clarke County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Clarke 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 Clarke County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among De Soto's 2,420 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of De Soto you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,420 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 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 De Soto-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiDe Soto sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides