Anton Chico, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Anton Chico, 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 Anton Chico 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 Anton Chico — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Anton Chico — the short answer
Anton Chico, New Mexico: USDA zone 6b, about 201 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~201
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Anton Chico's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Anton Chico's 201-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Anton Chico
Each reading below is measured for Anton Chico itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAnton Chico runs about 201 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredAnton Chico 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 Anton Chico is in
Anton Chico sits in the Southwestern Tablelands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Anton Chico's own centroid rather than borrowed from Guadalupe County.
What Grows in Anton Chico
Every plant below cleared Anton Chico's own zone 6b and its 201-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Anton Chico?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 29 — 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 Anton Chico
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Anton Chico. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LILLIES CAFE AND GROUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- SANDOVAL 66Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ABERCROMBIE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- SILVER MOON TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- PILOT TRAVEL CENTER # 1070Underground Storage Tanks · 9.7 mi
Measured from Anton Chico'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 Anton Chico.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Anton Chico
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Anton Chico
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 Anton Chico average
Your land is one point inside Anton Chico
Everything above resolves to Anton Chico as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Anton Chico Average
Anton Chico Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Anton Chico
- ●One soil character for all of Anton Chico
- ●Frost dates read at Anton Chico's scale: Apr 11 to Oct 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Anton Chico's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Anton Chico
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Anton Chico, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Anton Chico averages can't show:
We read public map data around Anton Chico — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Anton Chico average
How we know this about Anton Chico
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 Anton Chico’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 Anton Chico
When does frost risk typically end in Anton Chico?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Anton Chico typically lands around Apr 11, 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 2.
When is the first frost in Anton Chico?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Anton Chico typically arrives around Oct 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 15, so the watching starts about Sep 29 — about 201 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Anton Chico?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Anton Chico sees about 201 frost-free days — roughly Apr 11 through Oct 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 2 to Oct 15, about 166 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Anton Chico?
The federal record around Anton Chico is light — 5 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (5), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Anton Chico?
From about Sep 29 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Anton Chico's scale — its 6b band and its 201-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Anton Chico'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 Anton Chico’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Anton Chico's own scale — its own ~201-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,143 acres it covers and 5 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Anton Chico's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Anton Chico's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 11 and Oct 29 and the ~201-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 5 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Anton Chico, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Anton Chico's boundary and the 1,143 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~201-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Anton Chico's own centroid, the Southwestern TablelandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Anton Chico's 1,143 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Guadalupe County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Guadalupe County
- The growing challenges every New Mexico grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom New Mexico
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Guadalupe County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Anton Chico's 1,143 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Anton Chico you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,143 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Anton Chico-wide figureread your own land →
More in New Mexico
Wider growing context
What grows across New MexicoAnton Chico sits outside our named growing regions, so New Mexico as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides