Lobo Canyon, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lobo Canyon, 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 Lobo Canyon 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 Lobo Canyon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lobo Canyon — the short answer
Lobo Canyon, New Mexico: USDA zone 6b, about 160 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- 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 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~160
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Lobo Canyon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lobo Canyon's 160-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lobo Canyon
Each reading below is measured for Lobo Canyon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLobo Canyon runs about 160 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
MeasuredLobo Canyon 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 Lobo Canyon is in
Lobo Canyon sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Temperate Sierras. That is read at Lobo Canyon's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Cibola County is mostly Arizona/New Mexico Plateau. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Lobo Canyon
Every plant below cleared Lobo Canyon's own zone 6b and its 160-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lobo Canyon?
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 14 — 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 Lobo Canyon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lobo Canyon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Gay EagleMining · 4.1 mi
- Last ChanceMining · 4.1 mi
- Morrow MineMining · 4.1 mi
- La JaraMining · 4.1 mi
- WESTERN NEW MEXICO CORRECTIONAL FACILITY GRANTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- NR017-06.30X09.30Nitrate · 6.6 mi
- MUNICIPAL OPERATIONS CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- 13N.08W.30.100Nitrate · 7.2 mi
- ALLSUPS 90Underground Storage Tanks · 7.4 mi
- CIBOLA GENERAL HOSPITALBrownfields · 7.4 mi
- LOBO CANYON SHOPPING CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.5 mi
- SMITH'S 415Brownfields · 7.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lobo Canyon'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 Lobo Canyon.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lobo Canyon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lobo Canyon
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lobo Canyon, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Lobo Canyon — Superfund (13 sites) and Nitrate (62 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Lobo Canyon
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 Lobo Canyon average
Your land is one point inside Lobo Canyon
Everything above resolves to Lobo Canyon as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Lobo Canyon Average
Lobo Canyon Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Lobo Canyon
- ●One soil character for all of Lobo Canyon
- ●Frost dates read at Lobo Canyon's scale: May 7 to Oct 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lobo Canyon's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lobo Canyon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lobo Canyon, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lobo Canyon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lobo Canyon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lobo Canyon average
How we know this about Lobo Canyon
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 Lobo Canyon’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 Lobo Canyon
When does frost risk typically end in Lobo Canyon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lobo Canyon 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 Lobo Canyon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lobo Canyon typically arrives around Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 30, so the watching starts about Sep 14 — about 160 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lobo Canyon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lobo Canyon sees about 160 frost-free days — roughly May 7 through Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 28 to Sep 30, about 125 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lobo Canyon?
The federal record around Lobo Canyon is a meaningful one — 156 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (62), the nearest Mining record about 4.1 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 Lobo Canyon?
From about Sep 14 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 14 (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 14. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lobo Canyon's scale — its 6b band and its 160-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lobo Canyon'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 Lobo Canyon’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Lobo Canyon's own scale — its own ~160-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,752 acres it covers and 156 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lobo Canyon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Lobo Canyon's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 7 and Oct 14 and the ~160-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 156 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lobo Canyon, the closest Mining record about 4.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lobo Canyon's boundary and the 2,752 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~160-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Lobo Canyon sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Mountains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lobo Canyon's 2,752 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 Lobo Canyon's 2,752 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lobo Canyon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,752 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Mining record about 4.1 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 Lobo Canyon-wide figureread your own land →