Church Rock, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Church Rock, 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 Church Rock 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 Church Rock — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Church Rock — the short answer
Church Rock, New Mexico: USDA zone 6b, about 169 days between hard freezes, across 12K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~169
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 12K 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 Church Rock's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Church Rock's 169-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Church Rock
Each reading below is measured for Church Rock itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredChurch Rock runs about 169 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
MeasuredChurch Rock 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 Church Rock is in
Church Rock sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Church Rock's own centroid rather than borrowed from McKinley County.
What Grows in Church Rock
Every plant below cleared Church Rock's own zone 6b and its 169-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Church Rock?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 18 — 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 Church Rock
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Church Rock. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 15N.16W.06.2Nitrate · 0.5 mi
- 16N.16W.30.3431Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- 16N.16W.19.1Nitrate · 1.4 mi
- 16N.17W.25.1132Nitrate · 2.2 mi
- 15N.17W.13.222Nitrate · 2.3 mi
- 15N.17W.12.3323ANitrate · 2.4 mi
- 15N.17W.12.3323Nitrate · 2.4 mi
- UNC MININGUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- GIANT 207Underground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- 15N.17W.13.1142Nitrate · 2.6 mi
- 15N.17W.14.214Nitrate · 3.0 mi
- 15N.17W.14.2322BNitrate · 3.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Church Rock'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 Church Rock.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Church Rock
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Church Rock
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Church Rock, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Church Rock — Superfund (7 sites) and Nitrate (144 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Church Rock
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 Church Rock average
Your land is one point inside Church Rock
Everything above resolves to Church Rock as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 12K 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 Church Rock Average
Church Rock Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Church Rock
- ●One soil character for all of Church Rock
- ●Frost dates read at Church Rock's scale: May 2 to Oct 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Church Rock's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Church Rock
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Church Rock, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Church Rock averages can't show:
We read public map data around Church Rock — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Church Rock average
How we know this about Church Rock
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 Church Rock’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 Church Rock
When does frost risk typically end in Church Rock?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Church Rock typically lands around May 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Church Rock?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Church Rock typically arrives around Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 4, so the watching starts about Sep 18 — about 169 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Church Rock?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Church Rock sees about 169 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Oct 4, about 134 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Church Rock?
The federal record around Church Rock is a meaningful one — 265 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (144), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.5 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 Church Rock?
From about Sep 18 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 18 (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 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Church Rock's scale — its 6b band and its 169-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Church Rock'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 Church Rock’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Church Rock's own scale — its own ~169-day season between 28°F freezes, the 11,738 acres it covers and 265 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Church Rock's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Church Rock's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 18 and the ~169-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 265 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Church Rock, the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Church Rock's boundary and the 11,738 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~169-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Church Rock'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 Church Rock's 11,738 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 Church Rock's 11,738 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Church Rock you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 11,738 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 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 Church Rock-wide figureread your own land →