Fence Lake, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — 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 Fence Lake, 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 Fence Lake 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 Fence Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Fence Lake — the short answer
Fence Lake, New Mexico: USDA zone 6a, about 147 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~147
- 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 Fence Lake's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fence Lake's 147-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fence Lake
Each reading below is measured for Fence Lake itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFence Lake runs about 147 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
MeasuredFence Lake 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 Fence Lake is in
Fence Lake sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Fence Lake's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cibola County.
What Grows in Fence Lake
Every plant below cleared Fence Lake's own zone 6a and its 147-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Fence Lake?
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 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 11 — 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 Fence Lake
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fence Lake. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NMDOT FENCE LAKE PATROL YARD 46 53Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
Measured from Fence Lake'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 Fence Lake.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fence Lake
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Fence Lake
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 Fence Lake average
Your land is one point inside Fence Lake
Everything above resolves to Fence Lake 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 Fence Lake Average
Fence Lake Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Fence Lake
- ●One soil character for all of Fence Lake
- ●Frost dates read at Fence Lake's scale: May 17 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fence Lake's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fence Lake
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fence Lake, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fence Lake averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fence Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fence Lake average
How we know this about Fence Lake
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 Fence Lake’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 Fence Lake
When does frost risk typically end in Fence Lake?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fence Lake typically lands around May 17, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Fence Lake?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fence Lake typically arrives around Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 27, so the watching starts about Sep 11 — about 147 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Fence Lake?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fence Lake sees about 147 frost-free days — roughly May 17 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 7 to Sep 27, about 112 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fence Lake?
The federal record around Fence Lake is light — 1 documented site across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (1), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Fence Lake?
With about 147 frost-free days between hard freezes, Fence Lake 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 175 to 203 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 17 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Fence Lake's scale — its 6a band and its 147-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fence Lake'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 Fence Lake’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Fence Lake's own scale — its own ~147-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,921 acres it covers and 1 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fence Lake's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Fence Lake's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 17 and Oct 11 and the ~147-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 1 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fence Lake, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fence Lake's boundary and the 1,921 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~147-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Fence Lake'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 Fence Lake's 1,921 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cibola County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cibola 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 Cibola County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Fence Lake's 1,921 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fence Lake you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,921 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Fence Lake-wide figureread your own land →