Moncks Corner, South Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Moncks Corner, 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 Moncks Corner 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 Moncks Corner — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Moncks Corner — the short answer
Moncks Corner, South Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 285 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 22
- Berkeley County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 4
- Berkeley County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~285
- Berkeley County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 7K 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 Berkeley County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Moncks Corner's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Moncks Corner's 285-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Moncks Corner
Each reading below is measured for Moncks Corner itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMoncks Corner runs about 285 days between hard freezes (read from Berkeley County, the closest normal to Moncks Corner) — 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
MeasuredMoncks Corner 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 Moncks Corner is in
Moncks Corner sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Moncks Corner's own centroid rather than borrowed from Berkeley County.
What Grows in Moncks Corner
Every plant below cleared Moncks Corner's own zone 8b and its 285-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Moncks Corner?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 4 — 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.
Documented around Moncks Corner
Survey cells within 31 miles of Moncks Corner checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 140 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Moncks Corner
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Moncks Corner. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BERKELEY ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- GASKINS EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- WALGREENS 10257Brownfields · 1300 ft
- SPINX 260Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- SOUTH CAROLINA PUBLIC SERVICE AUTHORITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- BROWN AMOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- AUTO PARTS AND INDUSTRIESBrownfields · 1800 ft
- MONCKS CORNER MAINTENANCE FACILITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- SANTEE COOPER- WINYAH - T AND DBrownfields · 1900 ft
- SC DOT MONCKS CORNER SHOPBrownfields · 2000 ft
- MARLOWS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- INTERSTATE-MONCKS CORNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Moncks Corner'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 Moncks Corner.
Total Sites
185
within ~10 miles of Moncks Corner
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
17 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Moncks Corner
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Moncks Corner
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Moncks Corner, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Moncks Corner — Toxics Release Inventory (17 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (115 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Moncks Corner
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 Moncks Corner average
Your land is one point inside Moncks Corner
Everything above resolves to Moncks Corner as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 7K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Berkeley 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 Moncks Corner Average
Moncks Corner Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Moncks Corner
- ●One soil character for all of Moncks Corner
- ●Frost dates read at Moncks Corner's scale: Feb 22 to Dec 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Moncks Corner's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Moncks Corner
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Moncks Corner, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Moncks Corner averages can't show:
We read public map data around Moncks Corner — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Moncks Corner average
How we know this about Moncks Corner
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 Berkeley 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 Moncks Corner
When does frost risk typically end in Moncks Corner?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Moncks Corner typically lands around Feb 22, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Moncks Corner?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Moncks Corner typically arrives around Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 20, so the watching starts about Nov 4 — about 285 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Moncks Corner?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Moncks Corner sees about 285 frost-free days — roughly Feb 22 through Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 15 to Nov 20, about 250 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Moncks Corner?
The federal record around Moncks Corner shows 185 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (115), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles 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 Moncks Corner?
From about Nov 4 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 Dec 4 (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 Dec 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Moncks Corner's scale — its 8b band and its 285-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Moncks Corner'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 Moncks Corner’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Moncks Corner's own scale — the 7,361 acres it covers and 185 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Moncks Corner's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 185 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Moncks Corner, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Moncks Corner's boundary and the 7,361 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~285-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Moncks Corner's own centroid, the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Moncks Corner checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Moncks Corner has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Berkeley County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Moncks Corner's 7,361 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Berkeley County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Berkeley County
- The growing challenges every South Carolina grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom South Carolina
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Berkeley County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Moncks Corner's 7,361 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Moncks Corner you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,361 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Moncks Corner-wide figureread your own land →