Mount Olive, 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 Mount Olive, 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 Mount Olive 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 Mount Olive — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Mount Olive — the short answer
Mount Olive, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 284 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 18
- Covington County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- Covington County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~284
- Covington 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 Covington County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Mount Olive's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mount Olive's 284-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Mount Olive
Each reading below is measured for Mount Olive itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMount Olive runs about 284 days between hard freezes (read from Covington County, the closest normal to Mount Olive) — 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
MeasuredMount Olive 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 Mount Olive is in
Mount Olive sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Mount Olive's own centroid rather than borrowed from Covington County.
What Grows in Mount Olive
Every plant below cleared Mount Olive's own zone 8b and its 284-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Mount Olive?
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 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 29 — 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 Mount Olive
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Mount Olive. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- APAC MISSISSIPPI INC, MOUNT OLIVE SHOPToxics Release Inventory · 1300 ft
- Magee Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- The County LineUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Harvey ChevronUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- T & M Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Mt Olive TexacoUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- Marsh Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- 031B0002 COVINGTONNitrate · 0.5 mi
- 031B0001 COVINGTONNitrate · 0.5 mi
- B J Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Byrd's SupermarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Keith's Superstore #140Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Mount Olive'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 Mount Olive.
Total Sites
153
within ~10 miles of Mount Olive
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Mount Olive
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Mount Olive
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Mount Olive, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 108 sites within ~10 miles of Mount Olive. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Mount Olive
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 Mount Olive average
Your land is one point inside Mount Olive
Everything above resolves to Mount Olive as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Covington 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 Mount Olive Average
Mount Olive Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Mount Olive
- ●One soil character for all of Mount Olive
- ●Frost dates read at Mount Olive's scale: Feb 18 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mount Olive's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Mount Olive
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mount Olive, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mount Olive averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mount Olive — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mount Olive average
How we know this about Mount Olive
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 Covington 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 Mount Olive
When does frost risk typically end in Mount Olive?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mount Olive typically lands around Feb 18, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Mount Olive?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Mount Olive typically arrives around Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 15, so the watching starts about Oct 30 — about 284 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Mount Olive?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mount Olive sees about 284 frost-free days — roughly Feb 18 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 11 to Nov 15, about 249 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Mount Olive?
The federal record around Mount Olive is a meaningful one — 153 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (108), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory 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 Mount Olive?
From about Oct 30 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Mount Olive's scale — its 8b band and its 284-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mount Olive'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 Mount Olive’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Mount Olive's own scale — the 1,982 acres it covers and 153 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mount Olive's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 153 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Mount Olive, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Mount Olive's boundary and the 1,982 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~284-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Mount Olive's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Mount Olive has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Covington County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Mount Olive's 1,982 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Covington County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Covington 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 Covington County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Mount Olive's 1,982 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Mount Olive you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,982 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Toxics Release Inventory 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 Mount Olive-wide figureread your own land →
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