Gallup, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Gallup, 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 Gallup 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 Gallup — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Gallup — the short answer
Gallup, New Mexico: USDA zone 6a, about 161 days between hard freezes, across 13K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 7
- 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
- ~161
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 13K 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 Gallup's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gallup's 161-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Gallup
Each reading below is measured for Gallup itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGallup runs about 161 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
MeasuredGallup 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 Gallup is in
Gallup sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Gallup's own centroid rather than borrowed from McKinley County.
What Grows in Gallup
Every plant below cleared Gallup's own zone 6a and its 161-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Gallup?
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 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 7 (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. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Gallup
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Gallup. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- AMIGO CHEVROLET COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- TRADEMART FINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- PEPSI COLA BOTTLING CO AUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- GIANT 9Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- JIFFY LUBE #1361Brownfields · 2500 ft
- ATEX 187Underground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- ALLSUPS 250Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- AMIGO CHEVROLET INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- SPEEDI LUBE 2Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- AMIGO CHEVROLET INCBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- HARVEY CHARLESUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- MAVERICK COUNTRY STORE 150Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Gallup'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 Gallup.
Total Sites
380
within ~10 miles of Gallup
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Gallup
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Gallup
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Gallup, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 164 sites within ~10 miles of Gallup. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Gallup
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 Gallup average
Your land is one point inside Gallup
Everything above resolves to Gallup as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 13K 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 city 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 Gallup Average
Gallup Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Gallup
- ●One soil character for all of Gallup
- ●Frost dates read at Gallup's scale: May 7 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gallup's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Gallup
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gallup, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gallup averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gallup — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gallup average
How we know this about Gallup
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Gallup’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Gallup
When does frost risk typically end in Gallup?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gallup typically lands around May 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in Gallup?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Gallup 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 161 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Gallup?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gallup sees about 161 frost-free days — roughly May 7 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 28 to Oct 1, about 126 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Gallup?
The federal record around Gallup is a meaningful one — 380 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (164), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Gallup?
From about Sep 15 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Gallup's scale — its 6a band and its 161-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gallup'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 Gallup’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Gallup's own scale — its own ~161-day season between 28°F freezes, the 12,922 acres it covers and 380 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gallup's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Gallup's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 7 and Oct 15 and the ~161-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 380 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Gallup, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Gallup's boundary and the 12,922 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~161-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Gallup'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 Gallup's 12,922 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 Gallup's 12,922 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Gallup you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 12,922 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Gallup-wide figureread your own land →