Low Mountain, Arizona, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Growers here do well with cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Low Mountain, 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 Low Mountain 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 Low Mountain — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Low Mountain — the short answer
Low Mountain, Arizona: USDA zone 6b, about 183 days between hard freezes, across 24K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~183
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 24K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 6b is Low Mountain's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Low Mountain's 183-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Low Mountain
Each reading below is measured for Low Mountain itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLow Mountain runs about 183 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredLow Mountain sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Low Mountain is in
Low Mountain sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Low Mountain's own centroid rather than borrowed from Navajo County.
What Grows in Low Mountain
Every plant below cleared Low Mountain's own zone 6b and its 183-day season. Each card opens that plant's Arizona profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Low Mountain?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 25 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Low Mountain
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Low Mountain. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 07 093-06.25X03.85 Low Mountain PM2Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- 07 093-06.25X04.09Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- 07-093-06.64X03.21Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- 07 093-00.19X00.81Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- 04 093-09.61X03.14-1Nitrate · 4.0 mi
- 04 093-11.52X00.19Nitrate · 6.0 mi
- 04 073-02.05X13.74Nitrate · 7.9 mi
- 04 073-07.14X12.86Nitrate · 8.1 mi
- Windmill 61P2Nitrate · 8.4 mi
- 06 093-11.75X09.33Nitrate · 8.4 mi
- 06 093-13.81X05.96Nitrate · 8.5 mi
- 2nd Flowing WellNitrate · 8.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Low Mountain'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 Low Mountain.
Total Sites
36
within ~10 miles of Low Mountain
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
36 nitrate monitoring sites
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Low Mountain
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Low Mountain, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 36 sites within ~10 miles of Low Mountain. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Low Mountain
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 Low Mountain average
Your land is one point inside Low Mountain
Everything above resolves to Low Mountain as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 24K acres. 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 Low Mountain Average
Low Mountain Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Low Mountain
- ●One soil character for all of Low Mountain
- ●Frost dates read at Low Mountain's scale: Apr 25 to Oct 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Low Mountain's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Low Mountain
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Low Mountain, Arizona — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Low Mountain averages can't show:
We read public map data around Low Mountain — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Low Mountain average
How we know this about Low Mountain
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 Low Mountain’s own record; 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 Low Mountain
When does frost risk typically end in Low Mountain?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Low Mountain typically lands around Apr 25, 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 May 16.
When is the first frost in Low Mountain?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Low Mountain typically arrives around Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 11, so the watching starts about Sep 25 — about 183 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Low Mountain?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Low Mountain sees about 183 frost-free days — roughly Apr 25 through Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 16 to Oct 11, about 148 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Low Mountain?
The federal record around Low Mountain is light — 36 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (36), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.7 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Low Mountain?
From about Sep 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 Oct 25 (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 Oct 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Low Mountain's scale — its 6b band and its 183-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Low Mountain'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 Low Mountain’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Low Mountain's own scale — its own ~183-day season between 28°F freezes, the 23,613 acres it covers and 36 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Low Mountain's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Low Mountain's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 25 and Oct 25 and the ~183-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 36 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Low Mountain, the closest Nitrate record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Low Mountain's boundary and the 23,613 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~183-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Low Mountain's own centroid, the Arizona/New Mexico PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Low Mountain's 23,613 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Navajo County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Navajo County
- The growing challenges every Arizona grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Arizona
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Navajo County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Low Mountain's 23,613 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Low Mountain you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 23,613 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.7 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 Low Mountain-wide figureread your own land →
More in Arizona
Wider growing context
What grows across ArizonaLow Mountain sits outside our named growing regions, so Arizona as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides