Velarde, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
These conditions suit cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Velarde, 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 Velarde 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 Velarde — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Velarde — the short answer
Velarde, New Mexico: USDA zone 6b, about 186 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~186
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Velarde's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Velarde's 186-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Velarde
Each reading below is measured for Velarde itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredVelarde runs about 186 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
MeasuredVelarde 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 Velarde is in
Velarde sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Velarde's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Rio Arriba County is mostly Southern Rockies. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Velarde
Every plant below cleared Velarde's own zone 6b and its 186-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Velarde?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 23 — 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.
Documented around Velarde
Survey cells within 31 miles of Velarde checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 418 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Velarde
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Velarde. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MICHAELS MINI MART AND PACKAGE LIQUORSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CONNIE GARCIAS GENERAL STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- MINERAL IND COMMODITIES OF AMERICA INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- MIKE MARTINEZ TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- LAW RESIDENCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- A & S CONST CO OF NM INCBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- 22N.09E.02.421Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- OJITO SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- VELARDE CENTRAL OFFICE AUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- JORGE A. GOMEZ AUTO TECHBrownfields · 4.2 mi
- 23N.10E.28.311Nitrate · 4.6 mi
- ARELLANO CLARAUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Velarde'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 Velarde.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Velarde
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Velarde
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Velarde, Mining runs higher than the national average — 7 sites within ~10 miles of Velarde. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Velarde
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 Velarde average
Your land is one point inside Velarde
Everything above resolves to Velarde as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Velarde Average
Velarde Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Velarde
- ●One soil character for all of Velarde
- ●Frost dates read at Velarde's scale: Apr 20 to Oct 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Velarde's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Velarde
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Velarde, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Velarde averages can't show:
We read public map data around Velarde — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Velarde average
How we know this about Velarde
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 Velarde’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 Velarde
When does frost risk typically end in Velarde?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Velarde typically lands around Apr 20, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Velarde?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Velarde typically arrives around Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 9, so the watching starts about Sep 23 — about 186 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Velarde?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Velarde sees about 186 frost-free days — roughly Apr 20 through Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 11 to Oct 9, about 151 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Velarde?
The federal record around Velarde is light — 32 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (14), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Velarde?
From about Sep 23 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Velarde's scale — its 6b band and its 186-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Velarde'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 Velarde’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Velarde's own scale — its own ~186-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,634 acres it covers and 32 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Velarde's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Velarde's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 20 and Oct 23 and the ~186-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 32 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Velarde, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Velarde's boundary and the 1,634 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~186-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Velarde sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Plateau — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Velarde checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Velarde's 1,634 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Rio Arriba County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Rio Arriba 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 Rio Arriba County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Velarde's 1,634 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Velarde you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,634 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Velarde-wide figureread your own land →