Chama, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Chama, 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 Chama 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 Chama — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Chama — the short answer
Chama, New Mexico: USDA zone 5a, about 124 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~124
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 5a is Chama's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Chama's 124-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Chama
Each reading below is measured for Chama itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredChama runs about 124 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredChama sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Chama is in
Chama sits in the Southern Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Chama's own centroid rather than borrowed from Rio Arriba County.
What Grows in Chama
Every plant below cleared Chama's own zone 5a and its 124-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Chama?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around May 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 30 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even here the calendar’s edges hold value: thirty-day greens late in the window, then garlic and a rested bed for spring.
What's on the federal record near Chama
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Chama. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NMGC CHAMA SERVICE CENTERBrownfields · 550 ft
- 31N.03E.13.334Nitrate · 1800 ft
- ROCKY MOUNTAIN MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CHAMA MUSTANGUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- LODGE AT CHAMA THEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- SUN DIAL STORE 705Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CONOCO MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ANDYS SAFETYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- VIGIL EDWARD E JUNIORUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- V AND A GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- GAGE ANNUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- WILLOW CREEK RANCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Chama'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 Chama.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Chama
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Chama
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 Chama average
Your land is one point inside Chama
Everything above resolves to Chama as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Chama Average
Chama Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Chama
- ●One soil character for all of Chama
- ●Frost dates read at Chama's scale: May 29 to Sep 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Chama's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Chama
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Chama, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Chama averages can't show:
We read public map data around Chama — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Chama average
How we know this about Chama
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 Chama’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 Chama
When does frost risk typically end in Chama?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Chama typically lands around May 29, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Chama?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Chama typically arrives around Sep 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 16, so the watching starts about Aug 31 — about 124 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Chama?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Chama sees about 124 frost-free days — roughly May 29 through Sep 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 19 to Sep 16, about 89 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Chama?
The federal record around Chama is light — 21 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (17), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 gardeners stretch the season in Chama?
With about 124 frost-free days between hard freezes, Chama rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 152 to 180 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 29 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Chama's scale — its 5a band and its 124-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Chama'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 Chama’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Chama's own scale — its own ~124-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,844 acres it covers and 21 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Chama's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Chama's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 29 and Sep 30 and the ~124-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 21 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Chama, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Chama's boundary and the 1,844 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~124-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Chama's own centroid, the Southern RockiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Chama's 1,844 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Rio Arriba County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Rio Arriba 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 Rio Arriba County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Chama's 1,844 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Chama you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,844 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Chama-wide figureread your own land →