North Tunica, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
These conditions suit cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in North Tunica, 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 North Tunica 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 North Tunica — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
North Tunica — the short answer
North Tunica, Mississippi: USDA zone 8a, about 269 days between hard freezes, across 363 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 28
- Tunica County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 24
- Tunica County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~269
- Tunica County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 363 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 Tunica County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is North Tunica's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against North Tunica's 269-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in North Tunica
Each reading below is measured for North Tunica itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsNorth Tunica runs about 269 days between hard freezes (read from Tunica County, the closest normal to North Tunica) — 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
MeasuredNorth Tunica sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 North Tunica is in
North Tunica sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at North Tunica's own centroid rather than borrowed from Tunica County.
What Grows in North Tunica
Every plant below cleared North Tunica's own zone 8a and its 269-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in North Tunica?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 24 — 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.
Documented around North Tunica
Survey cells within 31 miles of North Tunica checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 220 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near North Tunica
Closest first, within ~10 miles of North Tunica. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Tunica Bait ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- Watson'sUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- 143D0017 TUNICANitrate · 2400 ft
- Tunica Sheriff's OfficeUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- Pahar ExpressUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Mike's Self ServeUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- F J Jacks CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Bp Gas StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Earnhart Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Alex's IUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Hajjeh ConocoUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Rascal's #5Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from North Tunica'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 North Tunica.
Total Sites
64
within ~10 miles of North Tunica
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of North Tunica
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of North Tunica
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around North Tunica, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 18 sites within ~10 miles of North Tunica. 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.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in North Tunica
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 North Tunica average
Your land is one point inside North Tunica
Everything above resolves to North Tunica as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 363 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Tunica 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 North Tunica Average
North Tunica Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across North Tunica
- ●One soil character for all of North Tunica
- ●Frost dates read at North Tunica's scale: Feb 28 to Nov 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not North Tunica's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in North Tunica
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in North Tunica, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that North Tunica averages can't show:
We read public map data around North Tunica — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the North Tunica average
How we know this about North Tunica
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 Tunica 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 North Tunica
When does frost risk typically end in North Tunica?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in North Tunica typically lands around Feb 28, 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 21.
When is the first frost in North Tunica?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in North Tunica typically arrives around Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 10, so the watching starts about Oct 25 — about 269 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in North Tunica?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, North Tunica sees about 269 frost-free days — roughly Feb 28 through Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 21 to Nov 10, about 234 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in North Tunica?
The federal record around North Tunica shows 64 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (37), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles 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 North Tunica?
From about Oct 25 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at North Tunica's scale — its 8a band and its 269-day season. Your yard writes its own version of North Tunica'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 North Tunica’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at North Tunica's own scale — the 363 acres it covers and 64 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- North Tunica's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 64 documented contamination sites on the federal record near North Tunica, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- North Tunica's boundary and the 363 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~269-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at North Tunica's own centroid, the Mississippi Alluvial PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around North Tunica checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — North Tunica has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Tunica County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so North Tunica's 363 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Tunica County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Tunica 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 Tunica County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among North Tunica's 363 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of North Tunica you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 363 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 North Tunica-wide figureread your own land →
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