Gamerco, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Gamerco, 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 Gamerco 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 Gamerco — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Gamerco — the short answer
Gamerco, New Mexico: USDA zone 6b, about 171 days between hard freezes, across 612 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~171
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 612 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 Gamerco's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gamerco's 171-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Gamerco
Each reading below is measured for Gamerco itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGamerco runs about 171 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
MeasuredGamerco 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 Gamerco is in
Gamerco sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Gamerco's own centroid rather than borrowed from McKinley County.
What Grows in Gamerco
Every plant below cleared Gamerco's own zone 6b and its 171-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Gamerco?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 19 — 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's on the federal record near Gamerco
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Gamerco. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NAVAJO SHOPPING CENTERBrownfields · 650 ft
- WWC INC - MILANBrownfields · 700 ft
- 16N.18W.32.44Nitrate · 900 ft
- NAVAJO AREA GAMERCO MAINT COMPLEXBrownfields · 950 ft
- 15N.18W.05.214Nitrate · 2500 ft
- 16N.18W.32.211Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- ROCK SPRINGS ENERGY, INC LLC - GAMERCO FACILITYBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- 15N.18W.04.332Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- QUICK STOP INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- B&R INC DBA M&R TRADINGBrownfields · 1.6 mi
- NAVAJO TRACTOR SALES INCBrownfields · 1.6 mi
- USDOI BIA CHUSKA BOARDING SCHOOLBrownfields · 1.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Gamerco'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 Gamerco.
Total Sites
388
within ~10 miles of Gamerco
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Gamerco
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Gamerco
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Gamerco, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 176 sites within ~10 miles of Gamerco. 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 Gamerco
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 Gamerco average
Your land is one point inside Gamerco
Everything above resolves to Gamerco as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 612 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 Gamerco Average
Gamerco Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Gamerco
- ●One soil character for all of Gamerco
- ●Frost dates read at Gamerco's scale: May 1 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gamerco's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Gamerco
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gamerco, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gamerco averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gamerco — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gamerco average
How we know this about Gamerco
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 Gamerco’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 Gamerco
When does frost risk typically end in Gamerco?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gamerco typically lands around May 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Gamerco?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Gamerco typically arrives around Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 5, so the watching starts about Sep 19 — about 171 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Gamerco?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gamerco sees about 171 frost-free days — roughly May 1 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 22 to Oct 5, about 136 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Gamerco?
The federal record around Gamerco is a meaningful one — 388 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (176), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Gamerco?
From about Sep 19 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Gamerco's scale — its 6b band and its 171-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gamerco'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 Gamerco’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Gamerco's own scale — its own ~171-day season between 28°F freezes, the 612 acres it covers and 388 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gamerco's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Gamerco's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 1 and Oct 19 and the ~171-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 388 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Gamerco, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Gamerco's boundary and the 612 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~171-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Gamerco'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 Gamerco's 612 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 Gamerco's 612 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Gamerco you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 612 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Gamerco-wide figureread your own land →