Springer, 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 Springer, 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 Springer 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 Springer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Springer — the short answer
Springer, New Mexico: USDA zone 6a, about 166 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~166
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Springer's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Springer's 166-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Springer
Each reading below is measured for Springer itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSpringer runs about 166 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
MeasuredSpringer 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 Springer is in
Springer sits in the Southwestern Tablelands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Springer'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 Springer
Every plant below cleared Springer's own zone 6a and its 166-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Springer?
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 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 11 — 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 Springer
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Springer. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RUSSELS TIRE AND LUBE CENTERBrownfields · 900 ft
- SPRINGER TOWN OFUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- MONTOYA ESTATEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- CACTUS CORRALUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- ANGEL EDMUNDOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- ALTA CONVENIENCE #6254Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- SPORTSMAN SHELL INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- EBELL JUAN ANDREWUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- SPRINGER ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- PENDLETON 66 TRUCK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- EAST SPRINGER TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- MR GAS 282Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Springer'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 Springer.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Springer
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Springer, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 23 sites within ~10 miles of Springer. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Springer
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 Springer average
Your land is one point inside Springer
Everything above resolves to Springer as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Springer Average
Springer Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Springer
- ●One soil character for all of Springer
- ●Frost dates read at Springer's scale: Apr 28 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Springer's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Springer
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Springer, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Springer averages can't show:
We read public map data around Springer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Springer average
How we know this about Springer
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 Springer’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 Springer
When does frost risk typically end in Springer?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Springer typically lands around Apr 28, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Springer?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Springer typically arrives around Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 27, so the watching starts about Sep 11 — about 166 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Springer?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Springer sees about 166 frost-free days — roughly Apr 28 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 19 to Sep 27, about 131 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Springer?
The federal record around Springer is light — 26 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (23), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Springer?
From about Sep 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Springer's scale — its 6a band and its 166-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Springer'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 Springer’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Springer's own scale — its own ~166-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,411 acres it covers and 26 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Springer's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Springer's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 28 and Oct 11 and the ~166-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 26 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Springer, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Springer's boundary and the 1,411 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~166-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Springer 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 Springer's 1,411 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 Springer's 1,411 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Springer you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,411 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Springer-wide figureread your own land →