Raton, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — 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 Raton, 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 Raton 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 Raton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Raton — the short answer
Raton, New Mexico: USDA zone 6a, about 171 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- 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 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~171
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 5K 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 Raton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Raton's 171-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Raton
Each reading below is measured for Raton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRaton runs about 171 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
MeasuredRaton 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 Raton is in
Raton sits in the Southwestern Tablelands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Raton's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Colfax County is mostly Southern Rockies. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Raton
Every plant below cleared Raton's own zone 6a and its 171-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Raton?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 13 — 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 Raton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Raton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 87 TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 75 ft
- RATON POWER PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 750 ft
- JRS COUNTY STORE 508Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- ARTS CHEVRON SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- ALTA CONVENIENCE #6251Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- COLFAX COUNTY RD DEPARTMENT WAREHOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- CUNICO TIRE COMPANY INCBrownfields · 1200 ft
- RATON 2ND AND TROY SITESuperfund · 1200 ft
- ALTA CONVENIENCE #6252Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- KMART NUMBER 9238Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- LOAF N JUG 27Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- MESA PHARMACYBrownfields · 1900 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Raton'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 Raton.
Total Sites
69
within ~10 miles of Raton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Raton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Raton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Raton, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 44 sites within ~10 miles of Raton. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Raton
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 Raton average
Your land is one point inside Raton
Everything above resolves to Raton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 5K 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 city 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 Raton Average
Raton Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Raton
- ●One soil character for all of Raton
- ●Frost dates read at Raton's scale: Apr 25 to Oct 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Raton's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Raton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Raton, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Raton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Raton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Raton average
How we know this about Raton
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Raton’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Raton
When does frost risk typically end in Raton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Raton 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 Raton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Raton typically arrives around Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 29, so the watching starts about Sep 13 — about 171 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Raton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Raton sees about 171 frost-free days — roughly Apr 25 through Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 16 to Sep 29, about 136 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Raton?
The federal record around Raton is a meaningful one — 69 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (44), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Raton?
From about Sep 13 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 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Raton's scale — its 6a band and its 171-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Raton'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 Raton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Raton's own scale — its own ~171-day season between 28°F freezes, the 5,095 acres it covers and 69 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Raton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Raton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 25 and Oct 13 and the ~171-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 69 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Raton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Raton's boundary and the 5,095 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~171-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Raton sits in the Southwestern Tablelands — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Raton's 5,095 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Colfax County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Colfax 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 Colfax County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Raton's 5,095 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Raton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,095 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Raton-wide figureread your own land →