Water Valley, 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.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Water Valley, 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 Water Valley 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 Water Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Water Valley — the short answer
Water Valley, Mississippi: USDA zone 8a, about 241 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 16
- Yalobusha County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 12
- Yalobusha County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~241
- Yalobusha County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 4K 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 Yalobusha County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Water Valley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Water Valley's 241-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Water Valley
Each reading below is measured for Water Valley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWater Valley runs about 241 days between hard freezes (read from Yalobusha County, the closest normal to Water Valley) — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredWater Valley 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 Water Valley is in
Water Valley sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Water Valley's own centroid rather than borrowed from Yalobusha County.
What Grows in Water Valley
Every plant below cleared Water Valley's own zone 8a and its 241-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Water Valley?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
What's on the federal record near Water Valley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Water Valley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Gas Mart #48Underground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- MOTTS/BLUE COACH FOODSToxics Release Inventory · 450 ft
- 161C0004 YALOBUSHANitrate · 600 ft
- Water Valley RascalsUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- C W White Inc HeadquartersUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- S L GreerUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Water Valley Local Express #210Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Moore's Oil CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Alabama Live PoultryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- WATER VALLEY POULTRY LLCToxics Release Inventory · 2000 ft
- Sprint Mart #48Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- B & S GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Water Valley'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 Water Valley.
Total Sites
69
within ~10 miles of Water Valley
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Water Valley
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Water Valley
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Water Valley, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 20 sites within ~10 miles of Water Valley. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Water Valley
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 Water Valley average
Your land is one point inside Water Valley
Everything above resolves to Water Valley as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Yalobusha County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 city 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 Water Valley Average
Water Valley Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Water Valley
- ●One soil character for all of Water Valley
- ●Frost dates read at Water Valley's scale: Mar 16 to Nov 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Water Valley's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Water Valley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Water Valley, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Water Valley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Water Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Water Valley average
How we know this about Water Valley
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Yalobusha 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Water Valley
When does frost risk typically end in Water Valley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Water Valley typically lands around Mar 16, 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 Apr 6.
When is the first frost in Water Valley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Water Valley typically arrives around Nov 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 29, so the watching starts about Oct 13 — about 241 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Water Valley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Water Valley sees about 241 frost-free days — roughly Mar 16 through Nov 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 6 to Oct 29, about 206 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Water Valley?
The federal record around Water Valley is a meaningful one — 69 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (41), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Water Valley?
From about Oct 13 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Water Valley's scale — its 8a band and its 241-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Water Valley'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 Water Valley’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Water Valley's own scale — the 4,486 acres it covers and 69 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Water Valley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 69 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Water Valley, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Water Valley's boundary and the 4,486 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~241-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Water Valley's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Water Valley has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Yalobusha County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Water Valley's 4,486 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Yalobusha County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Yalobusha 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 Yalobusha County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Water Valley's 4,486 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Water Valley you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,486 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 Water Valley-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiWater Valley sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides