Toomsuba, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Toomsuba, 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 Toomsuba 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 Toomsuba — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Toomsuba — the short answer
Toomsuba, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 277 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Lauderdale County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- Lauderdale County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~277
- Lauderdale County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Lauderdale County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Toomsuba's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Toomsuba's 277-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Toomsuba
Each reading below is measured for Toomsuba itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsToomsuba runs about 277 days between hard freezes (read from Lauderdale County, the closest normal to Toomsuba) — 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
MeasuredToomsuba 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 Toomsuba is in
Toomsuba sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Toomsuba's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lauderdale County.
What Grows in Toomsuba
Every plant below cleared Toomsuba's own zone 8b and its 277-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Toomsuba?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Toomsuba
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Toomsuba. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 075J0001 LAUDERDALENitrate · 2000 ft
- South Central Bell TmsbmsmaUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Macmillan Bloedel IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- E O Butts GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- J & K FoodUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Coker GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Toomsuba SunocoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Fair Oil/PhiladelphiaUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Obeid Mini MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Loves Travel Stop #343Underground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- TOOMSUBA WATER ASSOCIATIONPFAS · 2.1 mi
- NORTH LAUDERDALE W/A, INCPFAS · 2.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Toomsuba'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 Toomsuba.
Total Sites
154
within ~10 miles of Toomsuba
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Toomsuba
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Toomsuba
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Toomsuba, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 95 sites within ~10 miles of Toomsuba. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Toomsuba
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 Toomsuba average
Your land is one point inside Toomsuba
Everything above resolves to Toomsuba as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lauderdale 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 Toomsuba Average
Toomsuba Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Toomsuba
- ●One soil character for all of Toomsuba
- ●Frost dates read at Toomsuba's scale: Feb 23 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Toomsuba's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Toomsuba
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Toomsuba, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Toomsuba averages can't show:
We read public map data around Toomsuba — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Toomsuba average
How we know this about Toomsuba
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 Lauderdale 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 Toomsuba
When does frost risk typically end in Toomsuba?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Toomsuba typically lands around Feb 23, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Toomsuba?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Toomsuba typically arrives around Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 13, so the watching starts about Oct 28 — about 277 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Toomsuba?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Toomsuba sees about 277 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 13, about 242 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Toomsuba?
The federal record around Toomsuba is a meaningful one — 154 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (95), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.4 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 Toomsuba?
From about Oct 28 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Toomsuba's scale — its 8b band and its 277-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Toomsuba'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 Toomsuba’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Toomsuba's own scale — the 3,001 acres it covers and 154 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Toomsuba's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 154 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Toomsuba, the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Toomsuba's boundary and the 3,001 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~277-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Toomsuba's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Toomsuba has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lauderdale County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Toomsuba's 3,001 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lauderdale County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lauderdale 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 Lauderdale County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Toomsuba's 3,001 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Toomsuba you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,001 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 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 Toomsuba-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiToomsuba sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides