McComb, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
On paper, cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in McComb, 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 McComb 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 McComb — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
McComb — the short answer
McComb, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 290 days between hard freezes, across 8K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 15
- Pike County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Pike County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~290
- Pike County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 8K 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 Pike County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is McComb's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against McComb's 290-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in McComb
Each reading below is measured for McComb itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMcComb runs about 290 days between hard freezes (read from Pike County, the closest normal to McComb) — 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
MeasuredMcComb 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 McComb is in
McComb sits in the Mississippi Valley Loess Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at McComb's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Pike County is mostly Southeastern Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in McComb
Every plant below cleared McComb's own zone 8b and its 290-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in McComb?
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 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 2 — 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 McComb
Closest first, within ~10 miles of McComb. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Super SaverUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- BlueSky #204Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Delaware ShellUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Mccomb School District Vehicle Services CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- The C Store #203Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- WALGREENS #17350Brownfields · 1500 ft
- DELAWARE TIRE BRAKES MUFFLERBrownfields · 1500 ft
- Pump & Save #1378Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Race Way #943Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- QUALITY 10 MINUTE OIL CHANGEBrownfields · 1800 ft
- MCCOMB SCHOOL DISTRICTBrownfields · 1900 ft
- Park Drive FoodsUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from McComb'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 McComb.
Total Sites
262
within ~10 miles of McComb
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
8 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of McComb
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of McComb
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in McComb
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 McComb average
Your land is one point inside McComb
Everything above resolves to McComb as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 8K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Pike 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 McComb Average
McComb Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across McComb
- ●One soil character for all of McComb
- ●Frost dates read at McComb's scale: Feb 15 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not McComb's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in McComb
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in McComb, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that McComb averages can't show:
We read public map data around McComb — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the McComb average
How we know this about McComb
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 Pike 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 McComb
When does frost risk typically end in McComb?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in McComb typically lands around Feb 15, 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 8.
When is the first frost in McComb?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in McComb typically arrives around Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 18, so the watching starts about Nov 2 — about 290 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in McComb?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, McComb sees about 290 frost-free days — roughly Feb 15 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 8 to Nov 18, about 255 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in McComb?
The federal record around McComb is a meaningful one — 262 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (152), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 McComb?
From about Nov 2 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at McComb's scale — its 8b band and its 290-day season. Your yard writes its own version of McComb'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 McComb’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at McComb's own scale — the 7,539 acres it covers and 262 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- McComb's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 262 documented contamination sites on the federal record near McComb, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- McComb's boundary and the 7,539 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~290-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- McComb sits in the Mississippi Valley Loess Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — McComb has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Pike County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so McComb's 7,539 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pike County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pike 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 Pike County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among McComb's 7,539 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of McComb you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,539 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 McComb-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiMcComb sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides