Goodman, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
These conditions suit cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Goodman, 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 Goodman 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 Goodman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Goodman — the short answer
Goodman, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 272 days between hard freezes, across 526 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 26
- Holmes County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 25
- Holmes County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~272
- Holmes County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 526 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 Holmes County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Goodman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Goodman's 272-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Goodman
Each reading below is measured for Goodman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsGoodman runs about 272 days between hard freezes (read from Holmes County, the closest normal to Goodman) — 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
MeasuredGoodman 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 Goodman is in
Goodman sits in the Mississippi Valley Loess Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Goodman's own centroid rather than borrowed from Holmes County.
What Grows in Goodman
Every plant below cleared Goodman's own zone 8b and its 272-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Goodman?
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 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 26 (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. 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 Goodman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Goodman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- West Rankin FacilityUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- Campus MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- Dollar Bill #1Underground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- 051X0001 HOLMESNitrate · 850 ft
- Dickerson Petroleum IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Goodman Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Eastside Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Qnm Arsr Sandhill RoadUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- Ms Order Buyers IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- Goodman Pickens ElementaryUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- Jones' GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- Mgm Fuel CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Goodman'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 Goodman.
Total Sites
83
within ~10 miles of Goodman
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
6 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Goodman
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Goodman
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Goodman, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Goodman — Toxics Release Inventory (6 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (52 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Goodman
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 Goodman average
Your land is one point inside Goodman
Everything above resolves to Goodman as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 526 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Holmes 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 Goodman Average
Goodman Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Goodman
- ●One soil character for all of Goodman
- ●Frost dates read at Goodman's scale: Feb 26 to Nov 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Goodman's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Goodman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Goodman, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Goodman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Goodman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Goodman average
How we know this about Goodman
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 Holmes 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 Goodman
When does frost risk typically end in Goodman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Goodman typically lands around Feb 26, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Goodman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Goodman 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 272 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Goodman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Goodman sees about 272 frost-free days — roughly Feb 26 through Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 19 to Nov 11, about 237 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Goodman?
The federal record around Goodman shows 83 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (52), 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 Goodman?
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 Goodman's scale — its 8b band and its 272-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Goodman'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 Goodman’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Goodman's own scale — the 526 acres it covers and 83 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Goodman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 83 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Goodman, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Goodman's boundary and the 526 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~272-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Goodman's own centroid, the Mississippi Valley Loess PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Goodman has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Holmes County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Goodman's 526 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Holmes County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Holmes 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 Holmes County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Goodman's 526 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Goodman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 526 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 Goodman-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiGoodman sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.