Capulin, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, 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 Capulin, 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 Capulin 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 Capulin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Capulin — the short answer
Capulin, New Mexico: USDA zone 5b, about 161 days between hard freezes, across 950 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~161
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 950 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 5b is Capulin's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Capulin's 161-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Capulin
Each reading below is measured for Capulin itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCapulin runs about 161 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
MeasuredCapulin sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Capulin is in
Capulin sits in the Southwestern Tablelands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Capulin's own centroid rather than borrowed from Union County.
What Grows in Capulin
Every plant below cleared Capulin's own zone 5b and its 161-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Capulin?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 8 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Capulin
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Capulin. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- AMERICAN TAXIDORMY & PROCESSINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- OLD CHEVRON STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- CAPULIN NATIONAL MONUMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- CAPULIN VOLCANO NATIONAL MONUMENTBrownfields · 1.7 mi
- 29N.28E.05.234Nitrate · 2.6 mi
- BACA VALLEY TELEPHONE COUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.2 mi
- NMDOT DES MOINES PATROL YARD 44 52Underground Storage Tanks · 8.2 mi
- ABANDONED GAS STATION DUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.8 mi
Measured from Capulin'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 Capulin.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Capulin
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Capulin
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 Capulin average
Your land is one point inside Capulin
Everything above resolves to Capulin as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 950 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 Capulin Average
Capulin Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Capulin
- ●One soil character for all of Capulin
- ●Frost dates read at Capulin's scale: Apr 30 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Capulin's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Capulin
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Capulin, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Capulin averages can't show:
We read public map data around Capulin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Capulin average
How we know this about Capulin
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 Capulin’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 Capulin
When does frost risk typically end in Capulin?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Capulin typically lands around Apr 30, 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 21.
When is the first frost in Capulin?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Capulin typically arrives around Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 24, so the watching starts about Sep 8 — about 161 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Capulin?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Capulin sees about 161 frost-free days — roughly Apr 30 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 21 to Sep 24, about 126 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Capulin?
The federal record around Capulin is light — 9 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (6), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Capulin?
From about Sep 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Capulin's scale — its 5b band and its 161-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Capulin'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 Capulin’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Capulin's own scale — its own ~161-day season between 28°F freezes, the 950 acres it covers and 9 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Capulin's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Capulin's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 30 and Oct 8 and the ~161-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 9 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Capulin, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Capulin's boundary and the 950 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~161-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Capulin's own centroid, the Southwestern TablelandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Capulin's 950 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Union County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Union 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 Union County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Capulin's 950 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Capulin you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 950 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Capulin-wide figureread your own land →
More in New Mexico
Wider growing context
What grows across New MexicoCapulin sits outside our named growing regions, so New Mexico as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides