Aragon, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Aragon, 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 Aragon 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 Aragon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Aragon — the short answer
Aragon, New Mexico: USDA zone 6a, about 153 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~153
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 5K 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 6a is Aragon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Aragon's 153-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Aragon
Each reading below is measured for Aragon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAragon runs about 153 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
MeasuredAragon sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Aragon is in
Aragon sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Temperate Sierras. That is read at Aragon's own centroid rather than borrowed from Catron County.
What Grows in Aragon
Every plant below cleared Aragon's own zone 6a and its 153-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Aragon?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 15 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Aragon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Aragon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SQUARE DEAL STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- 04S.16W.28.211Nitrate · 3.2 mi
- 04S.16W.17.244Nitrate · 4.8 mi
- 04S.15W.32.12234Nitrate · 5.7 mi
- 05S.15W.09.300Nitrate · 6.1 mi
- 05S.15W.22.330Nitrate · 7.4 mi
- 04S.15W.26.334Nitrate · 8.1 mi
- 06S.15W.17.400Nitrate · 9.7 mi
Measured from Aragon'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 Aragon.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Aragon
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Aragon
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 Aragon average
Your land is one point inside Aragon
Everything above resolves to Aragon as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 5K 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 Aragon Average
Aragon Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Aragon
- ●One soil character for all of Aragon
- ●Frost dates read at Aragon's scale: May 15 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Aragon's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Aragon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Aragon, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Aragon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Aragon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Aragon average
How we know this about Aragon
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 Aragon’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 Aragon
When does frost risk typically end in Aragon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Aragon typically lands around May 15, 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 Jun 5.
When is the first frost in Aragon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Aragon typically arrives around Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 1, so the watching starts about Sep 15 — about 153 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Aragon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Aragon sees about 153 frost-free days — roughly May 15 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 5 to Oct 1, about 118 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Aragon?
The federal record around Aragon is light — 15 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (14), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.9 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 Aragon?
From about Sep 15 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Aragon's scale — its 6a band and its 153-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Aragon'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 Aragon’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Aragon's own scale — its own ~153-day season between 28°F freezes, the 5,411 acres it covers and 15 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Aragon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Aragon's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 15 and Oct 15 and the ~153-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 15 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Aragon, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Aragon's boundary and the 5,411 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~153-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Aragon's own centroid, the Arizona/New Mexico MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Aragon's 5,411 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Catron County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Catron 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 Catron County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Aragon's 5,411 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Aragon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,411 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.9 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 Aragon-wide figureread your own land →
More in New Mexico
Wider growing context
What grows across New MexicoAragon sits outside our named growing regions, so New Mexico as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides