Upper Fruitland, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Growers here do well with cabbage, pawpaw, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Upper Fruitland, 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 Upper Fruitland 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 Upper Fruitland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Upper Fruitland — the short answer
Upper Fruitland, New Mexico: USDA zone 7a, about 188 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~188
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town 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 7a is Upper Fruitland's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Upper Fruitland's 188-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Upper Fruitland
Each reading below is measured for Upper Fruitland itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredUpper Fruitland runs about 188 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
MeasuredUpper Fruitland 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 Upper Fruitland is in
Upper Fruitland sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Upper Fruitland's own centroid rather than borrowed from San Juan County.
What Grows in Upper Fruitland
Every plant below cleared Upper Fruitland's own zone 7a and its 188-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Upper Fruitland?
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 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 22 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Upper Fruitland
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Upper Fruitland. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SANOSTEE SEWING CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- MUSTANG GASMAN 198Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- ALUMINUM SWEAT FURNACEBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- NR031.0520X0185Nitrate · 1.3 mi
- GIANT FIFTY ONEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- HIGHWAY 64 TRUCK & AUTO SALVAGEBrownfields · 1.7 mi
- A-1 AUTO SALVAGEBrownfields · 1.7 mi
- SALVAGE PLUS METAL RECYCLINGBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- MANNING TRADING CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- UTAH INTERNATIONALUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- GIANT 262Underground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- 29N.14W.07.333Nitrate · 2.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Upper Fruitland'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 Upper Fruitland.
Total Sites
445
within ~10 miles of Upper Fruitland
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
7 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Upper Fruitland
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Upper Fruitland
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Upper Fruitland, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 7 sites within ~10 miles of Upper Fruitland. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Upper Fruitland
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 Upper Fruitland average
Your land is one point inside Upper Fruitland
Everything above resolves to Upper Fruitland 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 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 Upper Fruitland Average
Upper Fruitland Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Upper Fruitland
- ●One soil character for all of Upper Fruitland
- ●Frost dates read at Upper Fruitland's scale: Apr 17 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Upper Fruitland's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Upper Fruitland
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Upper Fruitland, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Upper Fruitland averages can't show:
We read public map data around Upper Fruitland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Upper Fruitland average
How we know this about Upper Fruitland
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 Upper Fruitland’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 Upper Fruitland
When does frost risk typically end in Upper Fruitland?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Upper Fruitland typically lands around Apr 17, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Upper Fruitland?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Upper Fruitland typically arrives around Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 8, so the watching starts about Sep 22 — about 188 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Upper Fruitland?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Upper Fruitland sees about 188 frost-free days — roughly Apr 17 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 8 to Oct 8, about 153 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Upper Fruitland?
The federal record around Upper Fruitland is a meaningful one — 445 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (236), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles 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 Upper Fruitland?
From about Sep 22 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Upper Fruitland's scale — its 7a band and its 188-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Upper Fruitland'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 Upper Fruitland’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Upper Fruitland's own scale — its own ~188-day season between 28°F freezes, the 4,898 acres it covers and 445 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Upper Fruitland's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Upper Fruitland's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 17 and Oct 22 and the ~188-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 445 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Upper Fruitland, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Upper Fruitland's boundary and the 4,898 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~188-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Upper Fruitland'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 Upper Fruitland's 4,898 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom San Juan County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom San Juan 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 Juan County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Upper Fruitland's 4,898 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Upper Fruitland you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,898 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Upper Fruitland-wide figureread your own land →