Ojo Encino, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Ojo Encino, 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 Ojo Encino 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 Ojo Encino — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ojo Encino — the short answer
Ojo Encino, New Mexico: USDA zone 6a, about 170 days between hard freezes, across 417 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~170
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 417 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 Ojo Encino's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ojo Encino's 170-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ojo Encino
Each reading below is measured for Ojo Encino itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredOjo Encino runs about 170 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
MeasuredOjo Encino 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 Ojo Encino is in
Ojo Encino sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Ojo Encino's own centroid rather than borrowed from McKinley County.
What Grows in Ojo Encino
Every plant below cleared Ojo Encino's own zone 6a and its 170-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ojo Encino?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 16 — 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 Ojo Encino
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ojo Encino. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 20N.05W.23.3Nitrate · 0.5 mi
- 19N.05W.03.2214Nitrate · 2.7 mi
- 19N.05W.05.221Nitrate · 3.3 mi
- 21N.05W.32.424 STAR LK NO2 WELL NR OJO ENCINO,NMNitrate · 4.1 mi
- 19N.05W.04.3333Nitrate · 4.1 mi
- 19N.04W.09.Nitrate · 6.1 mi
- 20N.06W.34.1143ANitrate · 7.1 mi
- 19N.06W.10.1222Nitrate · 7.5 mi
- 19N.05W.36.1132Nitrate · 7.9 mi
- 19N.03W.06.4Nitrate · 8.9 mi
- 18N.05W.01.1344Nitrate · 9.2 mi
- 18N.04W.06.Nitrate · 9.4 mi
Measured from Ojo Encino'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 Ojo Encino.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ojo Encino
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Ojo Encino
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 Ojo Encino average
Your land is one point inside Ojo Encino
Everything above resolves to Ojo Encino as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 417 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 Ojo Encino Average
Ojo Encino Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Ojo Encino
- ●One soil character for all of Ojo Encino
- ●Frost dates read at Ojo Encino's scale: Apr 29 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ojo Encino's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ojo Encino
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ojo Encino, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ojo Encino averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ojo Encino — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ojo Encino average
How we know this about Ojo Encino
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 Ojo Encino’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 Ojo Encino
When does frost risk typically end in Ojo Encino?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ojo Encino typically lands around Apr 29, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Ojo Encino?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ojo Encino typically arrives around Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 2, so the watching starts about Sep 16 — about 170 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ojo Encino?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ojo Encino sees about 170 frost-free days — roughly Apr 29 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 20 to Oct 2, about 135 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ojo Encino?
The federal record around Ojo Encino is light — 24 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (24), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.5 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 I protect my plants from frost in Ojo Encino?
From about Sep 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ojo Encino's scale — its 6a band and its 170-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ojo Encino'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 Ojo Encino’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ojo Encino's own scale — its own ~170-day season between 28°F freezes, the 417 acres it covers and 24 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ojo Encino's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ojo Encino's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 29 and Oct 16 and the ~170-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 24 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ojo Encino, the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ojo Encino's boundary and the 417 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~170-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ojo Encino'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 Ojo Encino's 417 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 Ojo Encino's 417 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ojo Encino you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 417 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 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 Ojo Encino-wide figureread your own land →