Pinon, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, pawpaw, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Pinon, 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 Pinon 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 Pinon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Pinon — the short answer
Pinon, New Mexico: USDA zone 7a, about 205 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~205
- 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 7a is Pinon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pinon's 205-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Pinon
Each reading below is measured for Pinon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPinon runs about 205 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredPinon sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Pinon is in
Pinon sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Temperate Sierras. That is read at Pinon's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Otero County is mostly Chihuahuan Deserts. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Pinon
Every plant below cleared Pinon's own zone 7a and its 205-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Pinon?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 2 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
What's on the federal record near Pinon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Pinon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PINON RD SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- GAGE MERCANTILEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
Measured from Pinon'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 Pinon.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Pinon
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Pinon
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 Pinon average
Your land is one point inside Pinon
Everything above resolves to Pinon 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 Pinon Average
Pinon Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Pinon
- ●One soil character for all of Pinon
- ●Frost dates read at Pinon's scale: Apr 11 to Nov 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pinon's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Pinon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pinon, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pinon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pinon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pinon average
How we know this about Pinon
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 Pinon’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 Pinon
When does frost risk typically end in Pinon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pinon typically lands around Apr 11, 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 2.
When is the first frost in Pinon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Pinon typically arrives around Nov 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 19, so the watching starts about Oct 3 — about 205 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Pinon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pinon sees about 205 frost-free days — roughly Apr 11 through Nov 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 2 to Oct 19, about 170 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pinon?
The federal record around Pinon is light — 2 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (2), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 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 Pinon?
From about Oct 3 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 Nov 2 (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 Nov 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Pinon's scale — its 7a band and its 205-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pinon'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 Pinon’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Pinon's own scale — its own ~205-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,303 acres it covers and 2 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pinon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Pinon's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 11 and Nov 2 and the ~205-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 2 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Pinon, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Pinon's boundary and the 3,303 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~205-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Pinon 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 Pinon's 3,303 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Otero County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Otero 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 Otero County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Pinon's 3,303 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Pinon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,303 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 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 Pinon-wide figureread your own land →
More in New Mexico
Wider growing context
What grows across New MexicoPinon sits outside our named growing regions, so New Mexico as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides