What Grows in Nakaibito, New Mexico

USDA Zones 6b · 4K acres

Nakaibito, 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.

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.

Score your parcel · free

Even in Nakaibito, 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 Nakaibito 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 Nakaibito — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

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Nakaibito — the short answer

Nakaibito, New Mexico: USDA zone 6b, about 180 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.

USDA zone
6b
USDA PHZM 2023
Last hard freeze (28°F)
Apr 25
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
First hard freeze (28°F)
Oct 22
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
Days between freezes
~180
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
Town area
4K 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

6b6b
3a (Cold)13b (Hot)

Zone 6b is Nakaibito's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Nakaibito's 180-day season, see what your own ground reads.

Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.

What this means for growing in Nakaibito

Each reading below is measured for Nakaibito itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.

Season length

Measured

Nakaibito runs about 180 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

Measured

Nakaibito 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 Nakaibito is in

Nakaibito sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Nakaibito's own centroid rather than borrowed from McKinley County.

What that means for soil

What Grows in Nakaibito

Every plant below cleared Nakaibito's own zone 6b and its 180-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.

cabbage, photograph
Growing cabbage in New MexicoZones 2–11Nakaibito's 6b — 4 zones of cold margin.
blackberry, photograph
New Mexico blackberry guideZones 5–8Nakaibito's 6b — 1 zone of cold margin.
California poppy, photograph
California poppy in New MexicoZones 6–10Nakaibito's 6b is its exact cold limit.
collard greens, photograph
Collard greens: New Mexico growing notesZones 2–11Nakaibito's 6b — 4 zones of cold margin.
pawpaw, photograph
Growing pawpaw in New MexicoZones 5–9Nakaibito's 6b — 1 zone of cold margin.
lavender, photograph
New Mexico lavender guideZones 5–8Nakaibito's 6b — 1 zone of cold margin.
garlic, photograph
Garlic in New MexicoZones 2–10Nakaibito's 6b — 4 zones of cold margin.
pecan, photograph
Pecan: New Mexico growing notesZones 5–9Nakaibito's 6b — 1 zone of cold margin.
Turkish rocket, photograph
Growing turkish rocket in New MexicoNakaibito's 180 days clear the ~90 it needs.
kale, photograph
New Mexico kale guideZones 2–11Nakaibito's 6b — 4 zones of cold margin.
prickly pear, photograph
Prickly pear in New MexicoZones 5–10Nakaibito's 6b — 1 zone of cold margin.
angelica, photograph
Angelica: New Mexico growing notesZones 4–9Nakaibito's 180 days clear the ~120 it needs.
lentil, photograph
Growing lentil in New MexicoZones 2–11Nakaibito's 180 days clear the ~70 it needs.
okra, photograph
New Mexico okra guideZones 2–12Nakaibito's 180 days clear the ~50 it needs.
potato, photograph
Potato in New MexicoZones 2–11Nakaibito's 6b — 4 zones of cold margin.
iris, photograph
Iris: New Mexico growing notesZones 3–10Nakaibito's 6b — 3 zones of cold margin.
sunflower, photograph
Growing sunflower in New MexicoZones 2–11Nakaibito's 180 days clear the ~70 it needs.
lilac, photograph
New Mexico lilac guideZones 4–10Nakaibito's 6b — 2 zones of cold margin.
hops, photograph
Hops in New MexicoZones 3–8Nakaibito's 6b — 3 zones of cold margin.
hosta, photograph
Hosta: New Mexico growing notesZones 3–8Nakaibito's 6b — 3 zones of cold margin.
French marigold, photograph
Growing french marigold in New MexicoNakaibito's 180 days clear the ~50 it needs.
Oregon grape, photograph
New Mexico oregon grape guideZones 5–8Nakaibito's 6b — 1 zone of cold margin.
Virginia creeper, photograph
Virginia creeper in New MexicoZones 3–9Nakaibito's 6b — 3 zones of cold margin.
tulip, photograph
Tulip: New Mexico growing notesZones 6–8Nakaibito's 6b is its exact cold limit.
American elm, photograph
Growing american elm in New MexicoZones 3–9Nakaibito's 6b — 3 zones of cold margin.
Ethiopian mustard, photograph
New Mexico ethiopian mustard guideZones 4–10Nakaibito's 6b — 2 zones of cold margin.
Kentucky bluegrass, botanical illustration
Kentucky bluegrass in New MexicoZones 2–7Nakaibito's 6b — 4 zones of cold margin.
western red cedar, photograph
Western red cedar: New Mexico growing notesZones 4–10Nakaibito's 6b — 2 zones of cold margin.
alfalfa, photograph
Growing alfalfa in New MexicoZones 2–10Nakaibito's 180 days clear the ~100 it needs.
Indian grass, photograph
New Mexico indian grass guideZones 4–9Nakaibito's 6b — 2 zones of cold margin.

Is it too late to plant in Nakaibito?

Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 22 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.

What's on the federal record near Nakaibito

Closest first, within ~10 miles of Nakaibito. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.

  1. NR088.0440X1460Nitrate · 1.5 mi
  2. NR088.044X1455Nitrate · 1.5 mi
  3. NR088.0448X1463Nitrate · 1.6 mi
  4. NR088.0445X1450Nitrate · 1.6 mi
  5. NR088.0150X1585Nitrate · 1.7 mi
  6. NR088.0350X1280Nitrate · 2.3 mi
  7. NR088.0460X1705Nitrate · 2.6 mi
  8. NR107.0425X0050Nitrate · 3.0 mi
  9. NR088.0170X1215Nitrate · 3.1 mi
  10. NR088.0660X1450Nitrate · 3.7 mi
  11. 17N.18W.05.233Nitrate · 3.7 mi
  12. NR088.0680X1590Nitrate · 3.9 mi

6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map

Measured from Nakaibito'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 Nakaibito.

Total Sites

91

within ~10 miles of Nakaibito

Risk Level

Moderate

Highest-severity

2 brownfield sites

Severity Distribution

within ~10 miles of Nakaibito

High0Moderate88Low3

Highest-Severity Sites

16N.18W.05.211A
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
16N.18W.05.211A
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
17N.17W.17.223
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
17N.17W.17.223
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
17N.18W.05.233
Nitrate Monitoring · Well

A note from Gnorman

What an experienced grower watches for around here

In and around Nakaibito, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 88 sites within ~10 miles of Nakaibito. 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).

Free Report

Check your specific parcel in Nakaibito

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 Nakaibito average

Your land is one point inside Nakaibito

Everything above resolves to Nakaibito as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 4K 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 Nakaibito Average

Nakaibito Average

  • USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Nakaibito
  • One soil character for all of Nakaibito
  • Frost dates read at Nakaibito's scale: Apr 25 to Oct 22

YOUR Parcel

  • Your exact zone, not Nakaibito's 6b
  • Your SSURGO soil type & pH
  • Your sun exposure, cast in 3D

See MY Growing Report

Free Report

Read your specific parcel in Nakaibito

Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Nakaibito, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.

Three things about your lot that Nakaibito averages can't show:

Your soil pHYour frost-free days — Nakaibito averages 180Your sun & shade

We read public map data around Nakaibito — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

25+ data sources read at your address, not the Nakaibito average

How we know this about Nakaibito

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 Nakaibito’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 Nakaibito

When does frost risk typically end in Nakaibito?

The last hard freeze (28°F) in Nakaibito typically lands around Apr 25, 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 16.

When is the first frost in Nakaibito?

The first hard freeze (28°F) in Nakaibito typically arrives around Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 8, so the watching starts about Sep 22 — about 180 days after the spring freeze cleared.

How long is the growing season in Nakaibito?

Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Nakaibito sees about 180 frost-free days — roughly Apr 25 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 16 to Oct 8, about 145 days.

Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Nakaibito?

The federal record around Nakaibito shows 91 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (88), the nearest Nitrate record about 1.5 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.

How do I protect my plants from frost in Nakaibito?

From about Sep 22 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.

Everything above is measured at Nakaibito's scale — its 6b band and its 180-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Nakaibito'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 Nakaibito’s own scale

6 of the readings below were taken at Nakaibito's own scale — its own ~180-day season between 28°F freezes, the 4,479 acres it covers and 91 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.

Measured here

  • Nakaibito's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
  • Nakaibito's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 25 and Oct 22 and the ~180-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
  • 91 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Nakaibito, the closest Nitrate record about 1.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
  • Nakaibito's boundary and the 4,479 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
  • Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~180-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
  • The ecoregion at Nakaibito'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 Nakaibito's 4,479 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 Nakaibito's 4,479 acreswhy one lot differs from the next
  • Which side of Nakaibito you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,479 acresreading your own microclimate
  • How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 1.5 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 Nakaibito-wide figureread your own land
The next step finer is your own address