Pinehill, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Pinehill, 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 Pinehill 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 Pinehill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Pinehill — the short answer
Pinehill, New Mexico: USDA zone 5b, about 147 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~147
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 5b is Pinehill's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pinehill's 147-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Pinehill
Each reading below is measured for Pinehill itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPinehill runs about 147 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredPinehill sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Pinehill is in
Pinehill sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Pinehill's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cibola County.
What Grows in Pinehill
Every plant below cleared Pinehill's own zone 5b and its 147-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Pinehill?
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 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 9 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Pinehill
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Pinehill. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 08N.15W.27.342Nitrate · 2400 ft
- 07N.15W.19.200Nitrate · 4.9 mi
- 08N.14W.17.314Nitrate · 5.1 mi
- 07N.16W.10.111Nitrate · 6.1 mi
- 09N.16W.34.412BNitrate · 6.9 mi
- 09N.16W.34.412Nitrate · 7.1 mi
- 9N.15W.22 RAMAH NO. 3 NAVAJO TRIBENitrate · 7.2 mi
- 07N.16W.21.300Nitrate · 8.0 mi
- 07N.14W.22.214Nitrate · 8.4 mi
Measured from Pinehill'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 Pinehill.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Pinehill
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 Pinehill
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 Pinehill average
Your land is one point inside Pinehill
Everything above resolves to Pinehill as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Pinehill Average
Pinehill Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Pinehill
- ●One soil character for all of Pinehill
- ●Frost dates read at Pinehill's scale: May 15 to Oct 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pinehill's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Pinehill
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pinehill, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pinehill averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pinehill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pinehill average
How we know this about Pinehill
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 Pinehill’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 Pinehill
When does frost risk typically end in Pinehill?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pinehill typically lands around May 15, 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 Jun 5.
When is the first frost in Pinehill?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Pinehill typically arrives around Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 25, so the watching starts about Sep 9 — about 147 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Pinehill?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pinehill sees about 147 frost-free days — roughly May 15 through Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 5 to Sep 25, about 112 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pinehill?
The federal record around Pinehill is light — 18 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (18), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.4 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 gardeners stretch the season in Pinehill?
With about 147 frost-free days between hard freezes, Pinehill rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 175 to 203 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 15 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Pinehill's scale — its 5b band and its 147-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pinehill'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 Pinehill’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Pinehill's own scale — its own ~147-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,262 acres it covers and 18 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pinehill's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Pinehill's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 15 and Oct 9 and the ~147-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 18 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Pinehill, the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Pinehill's boundary and the 2,262 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~147-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Pinehill'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 Pinehill's 2,262 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 Pinehill's 2,262 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Pinehill you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,262 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 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 Pinehill-wide figureread your own land →