Catalpa Canyon, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Catalpa Canyon, 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 Catalpa Canyon 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 Catalpa Canyon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Catalpa Canyon — the short answer
Catalpa Canyon, New Mexico: USDA zone 6a, about 164 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 4
- 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
- ~164
- 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 Catalpa Canyon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Catalpa Canyon's 164-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Catalpa Canyon
Each reading below is measured for Catalpa Canyon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCatalpa Canyon runs about 164 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
MeasuredCatalpa Canyon 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 Catalpa Canyon is in
Catalpa Canyon sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Catalpa Canyon's own centroid rather than borrowed from McKinley County.
What Grows in Catalpa Canyon
Every plant below cleared Catalpa Canyon's own zone 6a and its 164-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Catalpa Canyon?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 4 (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 Catalpa Canyon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Catalpa Canyon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO - GALLUP CAMPUSBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- 15N.18W.25.330Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- MARINSEK ROBERTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- REHOBOTH MCKINLEY CHRISTIAN HEALTHCAREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- REHOBOTH MCKINLEY CHRISTIAN HOSPITALBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- GALLUP INDIAN MEDICAL CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- GALLUP INDIAN MEDICAL CENTERBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- BLACK ROCK RS NMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- HARVEY CHARLESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- MAVERICK COUNTRY STORE 150Underground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- SPEEDI LUBE 2Underground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- COWBOY CLEANERS_______________________??Brownfields · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Catalpa Canyon'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 Catalpa Canyon.
Total Sites
369
within ~10 miles of Catalpa Canyon
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Catalpa Canyon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Catalpa Canyon
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Catalpa Canyon, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 152 sites within ~10 miles of Catalpa Canyon. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Catalpa Canyon
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 Catalpa Canyon average
Your land is one point inside Catalpa Canyon
Everything above resolves to Catalpa Canyon 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 Catalpa Canyon Average
Catalpa Canyon Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Catalpa Canyon
- ●One soil character for all of Catalpa Canyon
- ●Frost dates read at Catalpa Canyon's scale: May 4 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Catalpa Canyon's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Catalpa Canyon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Catalpa Canyon, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Catalpa Canyon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Catalpa Canyon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Catalpa Canyon average
How we know this about Catalpa Canyon
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 Catalpa Canyon’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 Catalpa Canyon
When does frost risk typically end in Catalpa Canyon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Catalpa Canyon typically lands around May 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Catalpa Canyon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Catalpa Canyon 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 164 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Catalpa Canyon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Catalpa Canyon sees about 164 frost-free days — roughly May 4 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 25 to Oct 1, about 129 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Catalpa Canyon?
The federal record around Catalpa Canyon is a meaningful one — 369 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (153), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.6 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Catalpa Canyon?
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 Catalpa Canyon's scale — its 6a band and its 164-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Catalpa Canyon'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 Catalpa Canyon’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Catalpa Canyon's own scale — its own ~164-day season between 28°F freezes, the 4,506 acres it covers and 369 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Catalpa Canyon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Catalpa Canyon's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 4 and Oct 15 and the ~164-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 369 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Catalpa Canyon, the closest Brownfields record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Catalpa Canyon's boundary and the 4,506 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~164-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Catalpa Canyon'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 Catalpa Canyon's 4,506 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom McKinley County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom McKinley 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 McKinley County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Catalpa Canyon's 4,506 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Catalpa Canyon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,506 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.6 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 Catalpa Canyon-wide figureread your own land →