Moorhead, 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.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Moorhead, 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 Moorhead 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 Moorhead — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Moorhead — the short answer
Moorhead, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 286 days between hard freezes, across 829 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 19
- Sunflower County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Sunflower County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~286
- Sunflower County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 829 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 Sunflower County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Moorhead's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Moorhead's 286-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Moorhead
Each reading below is measured for Moorhead itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMoorhead runs about 286 days between hard freezes (read from Sunflower County, the closest normal to Moorhead) — 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
MeasuredMoorhead 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 Moorhead is in
Moorhead sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Moorhead's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sunflower County.
What Grows in Moorhead
Every plant below cleared Moorhead's own zone 8b and its 286-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Moorhead?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 19 (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. 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 Moorhead
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Moorhead. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Double Quick #40Underground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- Double Quick #41Underground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- Former Mr Quick #41Underground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- 133R0090 SUNFLOWERNitrate · 750 ft
- Buck's Service CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Robert & Margaret BuschUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Ms Delta Cc Maintenance ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Thelma BarryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Bst Moorhead 73133Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Redmond Food MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- Roberts Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Sunflower County District #2Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Moorhead'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 Moorhead.
Total Sites
150
within ~10 miles of Moorhead
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
8 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Moorhead
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Moorhead
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Moorhead, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Moorhead — Nitrate (40 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (93 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Moorhead
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 Moorhead average
Your land is one point inside Moorhead
Everything above resolves to Moorhead as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 829 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Sunflower 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 Moorhead Average
Moorhead Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Moorhead
- ●One soil character for all of Moorhead
- ●Frost dates read at Moorhead's scale: Feb 19 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Moorhead's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Moorhead
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Moorhead, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Moorhead averages can't show:
We read public map data around Moorhead — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Moorhead average
How we know this about Moorhead
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 Sunflower 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 Moorhead
When does frost risk typically end in Moorhead?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Moorhead typically lands around Feb 19, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Moorhead?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Moorhead 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 286 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Moorhead?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Moorhead sees about 286 frost-free days — roughly Feb 19 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 12 to Nov 18, about 251 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Moorhead?
The federal record around Moorhead shows 150 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (93), 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 Moorhead?
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 Moorhead's scale — its 8b band and its 286-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Moorhead'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 Moorhead’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Moorhead's own scale — the 829 acres it covers and 150 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Moorhead's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 150 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Moorhead, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Moorhead's boundary and the 829 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~286-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Moorhead's own centroid, the Mississippi Alluvial PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Moorhead has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Sunflower County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Moorhead's 829 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sunflower County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sunflower 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 Sunflower County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Moorhead's 829 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Moorhead you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 829 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 Moorhead-wide figureread your own land →