Smithville, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Smithville, 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 Smithville 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 Smithville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Smithville — the short answer
Smithville, Mississippi: USDA zone 8a, about 264 days between hard freezes, across 950 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 3
- Monroe County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 22
- Monroe County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~264
- Monroe County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 950 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 Monroe County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Smithville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Smithville's 264-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Smithville
Each reading below is measured for Smithville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSmithville runs about 264 days between hard freezes (read from Monroe County, the closest normal to Smithville) — 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
MeasuredSmithville 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 Smithville is in
Smithville sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Smithville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Monroe County.
What Grows in Smithville
Every plant below cleared Smithville's own zone 8a and its 264-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Smithville?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 3 (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. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Smithville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Smithville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 095D0005 MONROENitrate · 150 ft
- Moore's MeatUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- Town Of SmithvilleUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- Tom's Citgo Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Smithville TexacoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Kelly's Super AmocoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Speedy SackUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Seminole MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- 095C0058 MONROENitrate · 0.7 mi
- 095C0057 MONROENitrate · 0.7 mi
- Coker's IgaUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Smithville Telephone CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Smithville'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 Smithville.
Total Sites
170
within ~10 miles of Smithville
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Smithville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Smithville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Smithville, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Smithville — PFAS (3 sites) and Nitrate (46 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Smithville
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 Smithville average
Your land is one point inside Smithville
Everything above resolves to Smithville as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 950 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Monroe 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 Smithville Average
Smithville Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Smithville
- ●One soil character for all of Smithville
- ●Frost dates read at Smithville's scale: Mar 3 to Nov 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Smithville's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Smithville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Smithville, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Smithville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Smithville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Smithville average
How we know this about Smithville
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 Monroe 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 Smithville
When does frost risk typically end in Smithville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Smithville typically lands around Mar 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Smithville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Smithville 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 264 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Smithville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Smithville sees about 264 frost-free days — roughly Mar 3 through Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 24 to Nov 8, about 229 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Smithville?
The federal record around Smithville is a meaningful one — 170 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (98), the nearest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile 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 Smithville?
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 Smithville's scale — its 8a band and its 264-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Smithville'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 Smithville’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Smithville's own scale — the 950 acres it covers and 170 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Smithville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 170 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Smithville, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Smithville's boundary and the 950 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~264-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Smithville's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Smithville has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Monroe County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Smithville's 950 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Monroe County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Monroe 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 Monroe County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Smithville's 950 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Smithville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 950 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Smithville-wide figureread your own land →
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