Torrance County, in New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Torrance County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Torrance County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Torrance County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Torrance County — the short answer
Torrance County, New Mexico: USDA zone 6b, about 183 days between hard freezes, across 2.1M acres.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~183
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 2.1M acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 Torrance County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Torrance County's 183-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Torrance County
Across a year, Torrance County accumulates about 2,666 growing degree days above 50°F, about 507 fewer than the middle New Mexico county — ahead of 9 of New Mexico’s 33 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Torrance County
Across Torrance County, the ground is predominantly Aridisols, where Harvey, Dean, and Witt are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 7.2–8.2, slightly alkaline. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C soils.
Soil order
Aridisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
11%
Hydric soils
1%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Torrance County
The USDA soil survey maps 90% of Torrance County as well drained — but another 5% drains differently: 3% somewhat excessively drained, 1% excessively drained.
Harvey is the most extensive named soil at 11% of mapped acres, then Dean (8%) and Witt (8%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Torrance County
Each reading below is measured for Torrance County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Torrance County are well drained, in hydrologic group C — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Torrance County runs about pH 7.2–8.2, on the alkaline side.
Many vegetables cope, but acid-lovers like blueberries struggle, and iron and manganese lock up above about pH 7.5 — leaves yellow between the veins even in rich soil.
Elemental sulfur and generous organic matter lower pH slowly for the beds that need it; test first so you add only what the soil actually calls for.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredTorrance County runs about 183 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
MeasuredTorrance County 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 Torrance County is in
Torrance County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Southwestern Tablelands (90%) and Arizona/New Mexico Mountains (10%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Torrance County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Torrance County's own USDA zone 6b and its own 183-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile.
Is it too late to plant in Torrance County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 22 — 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 gets applied to farmland in Torrance County
USGS estimates 12,727 lb of 2,4-d on Torrance County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Dicamba (5,966 lb) and Glyphosate (4,354 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Torrance County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Torrance County — 544 documented sites across 5 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 6 mining sites. Historic and active mines that may leach heavy metals like arsenic, lead, and cadmium.
There's a meaningful federal record across Torrance County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Torrance County
Closest first, across Torrance County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 04N.10E.02.143Nitrate · 3.2 mi
- 05N.10E.28.400Nitrate · 4.9 mi
- 04N.09E.11.312Nitrate · 5.0 mi
- 03N.11E.05.444Nitrate · 5.7 mi
- 04N.11E.22.132Nitrate · 5.9 mi
- 03N.09E.03.211Nitrate · 5.9 mi
- 03N.09E.03.122Nitrate · 6.3 mi
- 05N.10E.13.443Nitrate · 7.3 mi
- 05N.10E.13.441Nitrate · 7.5 mi
- 03N.09E.05.414Nitrate · 7.8 mi
- PLANTS MART PLUSUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.0 mi
- 04N.09E.05.340Nitrate · 8.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Torrance County'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 Torrance County.
Sources Checked
across Torrance County
Severity Distribution
across Torrance County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Torrance County, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 444 sites across Torrance County. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Torrance County
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 Torrance County average
Your land is one point inside Torrance County
Everything above resolves to Torrance County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 2.1M 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Torrance County Average
Torrance County Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Torrance County
- ●One soil character for all of Torrance County
- ●Frost dates read at Torrance County's scale: Apr 22 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Torrance County's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Torrance County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Torrance County, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Torrance County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Torrance County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Torrance County average
How we know this about Torrance County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Torrance County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Torrance County
When does frost risk typically end in Torrance County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Torrance County typically lands around Apr 22, 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 13.
How long is the growing season in Torrance County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Torrance County sees about 183 frost-free days — roughly Apr 22 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 13 to Oct 8, about 148 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Torrance County?
The federal record around Torrance County is a meaningful one — 544 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (444), the nearest Nitrate record about 3.2 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.
Everything above is measured at Torrance County's scale — its 6b band and its 183-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Torrance County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads New Mexico's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Torrance County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Torrance County's own scale — its own ~183-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 544 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Torrance County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Torrance County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~183-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Torrance CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 544 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Nitrate record about 3.2 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Torrance County's boundary and the 2,140,934 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~183-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Torrance County spans, Southwestern Tablelands the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Torrance County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every New Mexico grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom New Mexico
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Torrance County — the ~183 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Torrance County's 2,140,934 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 544 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Torrance Countyread your own land →