Sturgis, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Sturgis, 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 Sturgis 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 Sturgis — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Sturgis — the short answer
Sturgis, Mississippi: USDA zone 8a, about 269 days between hard freezes, across 826 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 28
- Oktibbeha County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 24
- Oktibbeha County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~269
- Oktibbeha County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 826 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 Oktibbeha County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Sturgis's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Sturgis's 269-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Sturgis
Each reading below is measured for Sturgis itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSturgis runs about 269 days between hard freezes (read from Oktibbeha County, the closest normal to Sturgis) — 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
MeasuredSturgis 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 Sturgis is in
Sturgis sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Sturgis's own centroid rather than borrowed from Oktibbeha County.
What Grows in Sturgis
Every plant below cleared Sturgis'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 Sturgis?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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.
What's on the federal record near Sturgis
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Sturgis. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- M T JacksonUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- Q Mart #1Underground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- Hankins Lumber CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Perry's Pit StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- 105J0005 OKTIBBEHANitrate · 1000 ft
- Henry's Tire StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- Sturgis High SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Jackson's Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- 105E0014 OKTIBBEHANitrate · 2.4 mi
- 105E0012 OKTIBBEHANitrate · 2.4 mi
- 105J0009 OKTIBBEHANitrate · 2.7 mi
- 105K0007 OKTIBBEHANitrate · 4.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Sturgis'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 Sturgis.
Total Sites
64
within ~10 miles of Sturgis
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Sturgis
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Sturgis
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Sturgis, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Sturgis — Nitrate (18 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (4 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Sturgis
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 Sturgis average
Your land is one point inside Sturgis
Everything above resolves to Sturgis as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 826 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Oktibbeha 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 Sturgis Average
Sturgis Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Sturgis
- ●One soil character for all of Sturgis
- ●Frost dates read at Sturgis's scale: Feb 28 to Nov 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Sturgis's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Sturgis
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Sturgis, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Sturgis averages can't show:
We read public map data around Sturgis — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Sturgis average
How we know this about Sturgis
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 Oktibbeha 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 Sturgis
When does frost risk typically end in Sturgis?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Sturgis 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 Sturgis?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Sturgis 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 Sturgis?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Sturgis 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 Sturgis?
The federal record around Sturgis shows 64 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (38), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Sturgis?
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 Sturgis's scale — its 8a band and its 269-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Sturgis'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 Sturgis’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Sturgis's own scale — the 826 acres it covers and 64 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Sturgis's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 64 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Sturgis, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Sturgis's boundary and the 826 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 Sturgis's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Sturgis has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Oktibbeha County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Sturgis's 826 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Oktibbeha County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Oktibbeha 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 Oktibbeha County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Sturgis's 826 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Sturgis you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 826 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Sturgis-wide figureread your own land →
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