Cruzville, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Cruzville, 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 Cruzville 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 Cruzville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Cruzville — the short answer
Cruzville, New Mexico: USDA zone 6a, about 148 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 20
- 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
- ~148
- 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 6a is Cruzville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cruzville's 148-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cruzville
Each reading below is measured for Cruzville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCruzville runs about 148 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
MeasuredCruzville 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 Cruzville is in
Cruzville sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Temperate Sierras. That is read at Cruzville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Catron County.
What Grows in Cruzville
Every plant below cleared Cruzville's own zone 6a and its 148-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cruzville?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 20 (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. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Cruzville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cruzville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GILA NATIONAL FOREST-RESERVE SHOOTING RANGESuperfund · 6.0 mi
- SQUARE DEAL STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.2 mi
- 07S.19W.01.340ANitrate · 8.2 mi
- MICHELLES STORE LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
- SNOW LAKE RECREATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
- VICS TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
- RESERVE ADMINISTRATIVE SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
- COMPANY SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
- NAVOPACHE ELECTRIC COOP INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
- PINE LAWNUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
- RESERVE PATROL 4657Underground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
- BLACK GOLD STATION BUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.6 mi
2 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cruzville'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 Cruzville.
Total Sites
15
within ~10 miles of Cruzville
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Cruzville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cruzville
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 Cruzville
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 Cruzville average
Your land is one point inside Cruzville
Everything above resolves to Cruzville 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 Cruzville Average
Cruzville Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Cruzville
- ●One soil character for all of Cruzville
- ●Frost dates read at Cruzville's scale: May 20 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cruzville's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cruzville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cruzville, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cruzville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cruzville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cruzville average
How we know this about Cruzville
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 Cruzville’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 Cruzville
When does frost risk typically end in Cruzville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cruzville typically lands around May 20, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Cruzville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cruzville 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 148 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cruzville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cruzville sees about 148 frost-free days — roughly May 20 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 10 to Oct 1, about 113 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cruzville?
The federal record around Cruzville is a meaningful one — 15 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (11), the nearest Superfund record about 6.0 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 gardeners stretch the season in Cruzville?
With about 148 frost-free days between hard freezes, Cruzville 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 176 to 204 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 20 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Cruzville's scale — its 6a band and its 148-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cruzville'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 Cruzville’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Cruzville's own scale — its own ~148-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,634 acres it covers and 15 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cruzville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Cruzville's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 20 and Oct 15 and the ~148-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 15 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cruzville, the closest Superfund record about 6.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cruzville's boundary and the 1,634 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~148-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Cruzville's own centroid, the Arizona/New Mexico MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Cruzville's 1,634 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Catron County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Catron 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 Catron County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cruzville's 1,634 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cruzville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,634 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Superfund record about 6.0 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 Cruzville-wide figureread your own land →
More in New Mexico
Wider growing context
What grows across New MexicoCruzville sits outside our named growing regions, so New Mexico as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides