Tecolotito, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Tecolotito, 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 Tecolotito 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 Tecolotito — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Tecolotito — the short answer
Tecolotito, New Mexico: USDA zone 6b, about 199 days between hard freezes, across 460 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~199
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 460 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 6b is Tecolotito's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Tecolotito's 199-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Tecolotito
Each reading below is measured for Tecolotito itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredTecolotito runs about 199 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
MeasuredTecolotito sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Tecolotito is in
Tecolotito sits in the Southwestern Tablelands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Tecolotito's own centroid rather than borrowed from San Miguel County.
What Grows in Tecolotito
Every plant below cleared Tecolotito's own zone 6b and its 199-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Tecolotito?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 29 — 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 Tecolotito
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Tecolotito. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SANDOVAL 66Underground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- ABERCROMBIE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- LILLIES CAFE AND GROUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- SILVER MOON TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.7 mi
Measured from Tecolotito'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 Tecolotito.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Tecolotito
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Tecolotito
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 Tecolotito average
Your land is one point inside Tecolotito
Everything above resolves to Tecolotito as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 460 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 Tecolotito Average
Tecolotito Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Tecolotito
- ●One soil character for all of Tecolotito
- ●Frost dates read at Tecolotito's scale: Apr 13 to Oct 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Tecolotito's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Tecolotito
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Tecolotito, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Tecolotito averages can't show:
We read public map data around Tecolotito — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Tecolotito average
How we know this about Tecolotito
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 Tecolotito’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 Tecolotito
When does frost risk typically end in Tecolotito?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Tecolotito typically lands around Apr 13, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Tecolotito?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Tecolotito typically arrives around Oct 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 15, so the watching starts about Sep 29 — about 199 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Tecolotito?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Tecolotito sees about 199 frost-free days — roughly Apr 13 through Oct 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 4 to Oct 15, about 164 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Tecolotito?
The federal record around Tecolotito is light — 4 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (4), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.6 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 Tecolotito?
From about Sep 29 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Tecolotito's scale — its 6b band and its 199-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Tecolotito'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 Tecolotito’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Tecolotito's own scale — its own ~199-day season between 28°F freezes, the 460 acres it covers and 4 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Tecolotito's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Tecolotito's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 13 and Oct 29 and the ~199-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 4 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Tecolotito, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Tecolotito's boundary and the 460 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~199-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Tecolotito's own centroid, the Southwestern TablelandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Tecolotito's 460 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom San Miguel County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom San Miguel 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 San Miguel County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Tecolotito's 460 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Tecolotito you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 460 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.6 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 Tecolotito-wide figureread your own land →
More in New Mexico
Wider growing context
What grows across New MexicoTecolotito sits outside our named growing regions, so New Mexico as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides