Porterville, 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.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Porterville, 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 Porterville 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 Porterville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Porterville — the short answer
Porterville, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 270 days between hard freezes, across 248 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 28
- Kemper County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 25
- Kemper County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~270
- Kemper County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 248 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 Kemper County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Porterville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Porterville's 270-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Porterville
Each reading below is measured for Porterville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPorterville runs about 270 days between hard freezes (read from Kemper County, the closest normal to Porterville) — 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
MeasuredPorterville 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 Porterville is in
Porterville sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Porterville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Kemper County.
What Grows in Porterville
Every plant below cleared Porterville's own zone 8b and its 270-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Porterville?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 25 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Porterville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Porterville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 069P0002 KEMPERNitrate · 1000 ft
- Jack Webb GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Burks GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Herrington Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Country Cash StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- 069P0001 KEMPERNitrate · 1.4 mi
- Kemper County District 2Underground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- 069U0001 KEMPERNitrate · 3.4 mi
- 069P0004 KEMPERNitrate · 4.3 mi
- 069K0020 KEMPERNitrate · 5.8 mi
- 069K0015 KEMPERNitrate · 5.8 mi
- ELECTRIC MILLS WOOD PRESERVING, LLCToxics Release Inventory · 5.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Porterville'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 Porterville.
Total Sites
40
within ~10 miles of Porterville
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Porterville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Porterville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Porterville, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 26 sites within ~10 miles of Porterville. 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 Porterville
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 Porterville average
Your land is one point inside Porterville
Everything above resolves to Porterville as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 248 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Kemper 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 Porterville Average
Porterville Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Porterville
- ●One soil character for all of Porterville
- ●Frost dates read at Porterville's scale: Feb 28 to Nov 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Porterville's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Porterville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Porterville, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Porterville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Porterville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Porterville average
How we know this about Porterville
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 Kemper 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 Porterville
When does frost risk typically end in Porterville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Porterville 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 Porterville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Porterville typically arrives around Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 11, so the watching starts about Oct 26 — about 270 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Porterville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Porterville sees about 270 frost-free days — roughly Feb 28 through Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 21 to Nov 11, about 235 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Porterville?
The federal record around Porterville is light — 40 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (26), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.2 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 Porterville?
From about Oct 26 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Porterville's scale — its 8b band and its 270-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Porterville'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 Porterville’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Porterville's own scale — the 248 acres it covers and 40 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Porterville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 40 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Porterville, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Porterville's boundary and the 248 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~270-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Porterville's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Porterville has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Kemper County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Porterville's 248 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Kemper County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Kemper 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 Kemper County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Porterville's 248 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Porterville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 248 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Porterville-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiPorterville sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides