Diamondhead, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Diamondhead, 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 Diamondhead 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 Diamondhead — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Diamondhead — the short answer
Diamondhead, Mississippi: USDA zone 9a, about 304 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 8
- Hancock County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 9
- Hancock County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~304
- Hancock County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 6K 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 Hancock County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Diamondhead's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Diamondhead's 304-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Diamondhead
Each reading below is measured for Diamondhead itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsDiamondhead runs about 304 days between hard freezes (read from Hancock County, the closest normal to Diamondhead) — 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
MeasuredDiamondhead 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 Diamondhead is in
Diamondhead sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Diamondhead's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hancock County.
What Grows in Diamondhead
Every plant below cleared Diamondhead's own zone 9a and its 304-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Diamondhead?
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 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 9 — 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 Diamondhead
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Diamondhead. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Pro ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- DIAMONDHEAD UTILITIES-NORTHPFAS · 1.2 mi
- J AND M FAST LUBEBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- Golf Course Maintenance Koula DriveUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- 045G0153 HANCOCKNitrate · 1.5 mi
- CVS PHARMACY #10755Brownfields · 1.5 mi
- Hinky Dinky Food StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- Circle K # 2723752Underground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- Diamondhead BpUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- Giter DoneUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- Diamondhead MarinaUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- 047N0166 HARRISONNitrate · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Diamondhead'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 Diamondhead.
Total Sites
276
within ~10 miles of Diamondhead
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Diamondhead
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Diamondhead
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Diamondhead, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Diamondhead — PFAS (4 sites) and Superfund (5 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Diamondhead
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 Diamondhead average
Your land is one point inside Diamondhead
Everything above resolves to Diamondhead as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 6K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hancock County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 city 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 Diamondhead Average
Diamondhead Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Diamondhead
- ●One soil character for all of Diamondhead
- ●Frost dates read at Diamondhead's scale: Feb 8 to Dec 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Diamondhead's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Diamondhead
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Diamondhead, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Diamondhead averages can't show:
We read public map data around Diamondhead — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Diamondhead average
How we know this about Diamondhead
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Hancock 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Diamondhead
When does frost risk typically end in Diamondhead?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Diamondhead typically lands around Feb 8, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Diamondhead?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Diamondhead typically arrives around Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 25, so the watching starts about Nov 9 — about 304 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Diamondhead?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Diamondhead sees about 304 frost-free days — roughly Feb 8 through Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 1 to Nov 25, about 269 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Diamondhead?
The federal record around Diamondhead is a meaningful one — 276 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (122), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles 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 Diamondhead?
From about Nov 9 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 9 (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 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Diamondhead's scale — its 9a band and its 304-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Diamondhead'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 Diamondhead’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Diamondhead's own scale — the 6,470 acres it covers and 276 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Diamondhead's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 276 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Diamondhead, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Diamondhead's boundary and the 6,470 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~304-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Diamondhead's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Diamondhead has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hancock County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Diamondhead's 6,470 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hancock County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hancock 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 Hancock County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Diamondhead's 6,470 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Diamondhead you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 6,470 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Diamondhead-wide figureread your own land →
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