McLain, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in McLain, 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 McLain 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 McLain — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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McLain — the short answer
McLain, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 282 days between hard freezes, across 2K 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
- 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 Greene County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is McLain's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against McLain's 282-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in McLain
Each reading below is measured for McLain itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMcLain runs about 282 days between hard freezes (read from Greene County, the closest normal to McLain) — 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
MeasuredMcLain 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 McLain is in
McLain sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at McLain's own centroid rather than borrowed from Greene County.
What Grows in McLain
Every plant below cleared McLain'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 McLain?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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. 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 McLain
Closest first, within ~10 miles of McLain. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- McLain Express LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- GulfUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- International Paper Mclain WoodUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Jim Powell Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- 041N0004 GREENENitrate · 0.8 mi
- The Dish BarnUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- Ruby Bexley Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- Circle K # 2723387Underground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- Georgia Pacific CorporationUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- 041N0027 GREENENitrate · 3.7 mi
- 041R0001 GREENENitrate · 4.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from McLain'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 McLain.
Total Sites
42
within ~10 miles of McLain
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of McLain
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of McLain
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around McLain, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 20 sites within ~10 miles of McLain. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 McLain
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 McLain average
Your land is one point inside McLain
Everything above resolves to McLain as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K 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 McLain Average
McLain Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across McLain
- ●One soil character for all of McLain
- ●Frost dates read at McLain's scale: Feb 21 to Nov 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not McLain's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in McLain
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in McLain, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that McLain averages can't show:
We read public map data around McLain — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the McLain average
How we know this about McLain
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 McLain
When does frost risk typically end in McLain?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in McLain 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 McLain?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in McLain 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 McLain?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, McLain 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 McLain?
The federal record around McLain is light — 42 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (21), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in McLain?
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 McLain's scale — its 8b band and its 282-day season. Your yard writes its own version of McLain'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 McLain’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at McLain's own scale — the 2,170 acres it covers and 42 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- McLain's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 42 documented contamination sites on the federal record near McLain, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- McLain's boundary and the 2,170 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 McLain's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — McLain 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 McLain's 2,170 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 McLain's 2,170 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of McLain you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,170 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 McLain-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiMcLain sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides