Leakesville, 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.
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 Leakesville, 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 Leakesville 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 Leakesville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Leakesville — the short answer
Leakesville, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 282 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 21
- Greene County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 30
- Greene County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~282
- Greene County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 4K 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 Greene County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Leakesville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Leakesville's 282-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Leakesville
Each reading below is measured for Leakesville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLeakesville runs about 282 days between hard freezes (read from Greene County, the closest normal to Leakesville) — 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
MeasuredLeakesville 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 Leakesville is in
Leakesville sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Leakesville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Greene County.
What Grows in Leakesville
Every plant below cleared Leakesville's own zone 8b and its 282-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Leakesville?
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 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 30 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Leakesville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Leakesville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PEAVEY ELECTRONICS PLANT 23Toxics Release Inventory · 1700 ft
- Buddy's Sporting Goods & Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Champion Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- WEST BODY SHOPBrownfields · 1900 ft
- Pierce's Service CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- City Of LeakesvilleUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- 041P0003 GREENENitrate · 2300 ft
- Bridges Service CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Quick Stop #9Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- JR Food MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- 041P0047 GREENENitrate · 0.6 mi
- Dandy Dan's #524Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Leakesville'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 Leakesville.
Total Sites
30
within ~10 miles of Leakesville
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Leakesville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Leakesville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Leakesville, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 10 sites within ~10 miles of Leakesville. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Leakesville
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 Leakesville average
Your land is one point inside Leakesville
Everything above resolves to Leakesville as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Greene 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 Leakesville Average
Leakesville Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Leakesville
- ●One soil character for all of Leakesville
- ●Frost dates read at Leakesville's scale: Feb 21 to Nov 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Leakesville's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Leakesville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Leakesville, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Leakesville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Leakesville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Leakesville average
How we know this about Leakesville
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 Greene 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 Leakesville
When does frost risk typically end in Leakesville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Leakesville typically lands around Feb 21, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Leakesville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Leakesville typically arrives around Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 16, so the watching starts about Oct 31 — about 282 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Leakesville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Leakesville sees about 282 frost-free days — roughly Feb 21 through Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 14 to Nov 16, about 247 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Leakesville?
The federal record around Leakesville is a meaningful one — 30 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (15), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.3 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 Leakesville?
From about Oct 31 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 30 (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 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Leakesville's scale — its 8b band and its 282-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Leakesville'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 Leakesville’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Leakesville's own scale — the 4,021 acres it covers and 30 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Leakesville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 30 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Leakesville, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Leakesville's boundary and the 4,021 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~282-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Leakesville's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Leakesville has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Greene County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Leakesville's 4,021 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Greene County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Greene 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 Greene County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Leakesville's 4,021 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Leakesville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,021 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.3 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 Leakesville-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiLeakesville sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides