Sherman, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Sherman, 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 Sherman 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 Sherman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Sherman — the short answer
Sherman, Mississippi: USDA zone 8a, about 261 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~261
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Sherman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Sherman's 261-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Sherman
Each reading below is measured for Sherman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSherman runs about 261 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredSherman 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 Sherman is in
Sherman sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Sherman's own centroid rather than borrowed from Pontotoc County.
What Grows in Sherman
Every plant below cleared Sherman's own zone 8a and its 261-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Sherman?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 22 — 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 Sherman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Sherman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- VITAFOAM INCORPORATEDToxics Release Inventory · 800 ft
- Henry Wades PureUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Vicker's GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Town Of ShermanUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Lil Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Wild Bill'sUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Morris Scrap Metal IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- 115D0019 PONTOTOCNitrate · 1800 ft
- Barclay Furniture CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Union Underwear CorporationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- PENSKE TRUCK LEASING COMPANY LPBrownfields · 2200 ft
- Sherman Quality FoodsUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Sherman'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 Sherman.
Total Sites
273
within ~10 miles of Sherman
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Sherman
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Sherman
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Sherman, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Sherman — PFAS (4 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (22 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Sherman
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 Sherman average
Your land is one point inside Sherman
Everything above resolves to Sherman as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K acres. 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 Sherman Average
Sherman Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Sherman
- ●One soil character for all of Sherman
- ●Frost dates read at Sherman's scale: Mar 6 to Nov 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Sherman's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Sherman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Sherman, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Sherman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Sherman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Sherman average
How we know this about Sherman
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 Sherman’s own record; 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 Sherman
When does frost risk typically end in Sherman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Sherman typically lands around Mar 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Sherman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Sherman typically arrives around Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 8, so the watching starts about Oct 23 — about 261 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Sherman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Sherman sees about 261 frost-free days — roughly Mar 6 through Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 27 to Nov 8, about 226 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Sherman?
The federal record around Sherman is a meaningful one — 273 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (153), 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 Sherman?
From about Oct 23 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Sherman's scale — its 8a band and its 261-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Sherman'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 Sherman’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Sherman's own scale — its own ~261-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,114 acres it covers and 273 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Sherman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Sherman's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 6 and Nov 22 and the ~261-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 273 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Sherman, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Sherman's boundary and the 1,114 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~261-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Sherman's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Sherman's 1,114 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pontotoc County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pontotoc 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 Pontotoc County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Sherman's 1,114 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Sherman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,114 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 Sherman-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiSherman sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides