Tatum, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Tatum, 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 Tatum 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 Tatum — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Tatum — the short answer
Tatum, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 285 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 20
- Rusk County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Rusk County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~285
- Rusk County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Rusk County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Tatum's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Tatum's 285-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Tatum
Each reading below is measured for Tatum itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsTatum runs about 285 days between hard freezes (read from Rusk County, the closest normal to Tatum) — 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
MeasuredTatum 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 Tatum is in
Tatum sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Tatum's own centroid rather than borrowed from Rusk County.
What Grows in Tatum
Every plant below cleared Tatum's own zone 8b and its 285-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Tatum?
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 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 2 — 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 Tatum
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Tatum. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TATUM ISDUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR #4464Brownfields · 700 ft
- PENNYS FOOD AND FUELUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- FOOD FAST 1009Underground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- BROOKSHIRE BROTHERS 56Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- HOT SPOTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- CHALK HILL SUDPFAS · 1.9 mi
- ELDERVILLE WSCPFAS · 1.9 mi
- UL-35-45-705Nitrate · 2.8 mi
- UL-35-45-707Nitrate · 3.8 mi
- MARTIN CREEK LAKE STATE PARK - WATER TANKBrownfields · 3.8 mi
- MARTIN LAKE ELECTRICAL STATIONBrownfields · 4.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Tatum'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 Tatum.
Total Sites
37
within ~10 miles of Tatum
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Tatum
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Tatum
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Tatum, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Tatum — Toxics Release Inventory (3 sites) and Nitrate (12 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Tatum
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 Tatum average
Your land is one point inside Tatum
Everything above resolves to Tatum as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Rusk 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 Tatum Average
Tatum Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Tatum
- ●One soil character for all of Tatum
- ●Frost dates read at Tatum's scale: Feb 20 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Tatum's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Tatum
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Tatum, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Tatum averages can't show:
We read public map data around Tatum — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Tatum average
How we know this about Tatum
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 Rusk 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 Tatum
When does frost risk typically end in Tatum?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Tatum typically lands around Feb 20, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Tatum?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Tatum typically arrives around Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 18, so the watching starts about Nov 2 — about 285 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Tatum?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Tatum sees about 285 frost-free days — roughly Feb 20 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 13 to Nov 18, about 250 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Tatum?
The federal record around Tatum shows 37 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (12), 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 Tatum?
From about Nov 2 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Tatum's scale — its 8b band and its 285-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Tatum'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 Tatum’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Tatum's own scale — the 2,420 acres it covers and 37 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Tatum's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 37 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Tatum, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Tatum's boundary and the 2,420 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 Tatum's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Tatum has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Rusk County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Tatum's 2,420 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Rusk County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Rusk County
- The growing challenges every Texas grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Texas
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Rusk County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Tatum's 2,420 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Tatum you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,420 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 Tatum-wide figureread your own land →
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