Villanueva, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Villanueva, 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 Villanueva 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 Villanueva — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Villanueva — the short answer
Villanueva, New Mexico: USDA zone 6b, about 188 days between hard freezes, across 5K 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 25
- 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 6b is Villanueva's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Villanueva's 188-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Villanueva
Each reading below is measured for Villanueva itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredVillanueva 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
MeasuredVillanueva 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 Villanueva is in
Villanueva sits in the Southwestern Tablelands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Villanueva's own centroid rather than borrowed from San Miguel County.
What Grows in Villanueva
Every plant below cleared Villanueva's own zone 6b and its 188-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Villanueva?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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 25 — 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 Villanueva
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Villanueva. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GALLEGOS CASH STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- VIGIL ENTERPRISESUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- LEROYS GAS AND GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- SENA ORLANDO CUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- EL PUEBLO BARUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
- US POSTAL SERVICE RIBERAUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
- THE RANCH HOLDINGS LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
- A BUSTAMANTE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.7 mi
- CHAVEZ GROCERY AND STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.3 mi
- ALL AMERICAN TOWINGBrownfields · 8.5 mi
- Blake MineMining · 8.6 mi
- BERNAL STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.6 mi
Measured from Villanueva'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 Villanueva.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Villanueva
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Villanueva
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 Villanueva average
Your land is one point inside Villanueva
Everything above resolves to Villanueva 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 Villanueva Average
Villanueva Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Villanueva
- ●One soil character for all of Villanueva
- ●Frost dates read at Villanueva's scale: Apr 20 to Oct 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Villanueva's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Villanueva
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Villanueva, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Villanueva averages can't show:
We read public map data around Villanueva — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Villanueva average
How we know this about Villanueva
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 Villanueva’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 Villanueva
When does frost risk typically end in Villanueva?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Villanueva 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 Villanueva?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Villanueva typically arrives around Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 11, so the watching starts about Sep 25 — about 188 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Villanueva?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Villanueva sees about 188 frost-free days — roughly Apr 20 through Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 11 to Oct 11, about 153 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Villanueva?
The federal record around Villanueva is light — 13 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (10), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Villanueva?
From about Sep 25 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Villanueva's scale — its 6b band and its 188-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Villanueva'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 Villanueva’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Villanueva's own scale — its own ~188-day season between 28°F freezes, the 4,644 acres it covers and 13 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Villanueva's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Villanueva's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 20 and Oct 25 and the ~188-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 13 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Villanueva, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Villanueva's boundary and the 4,644 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~188-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Villanueva's own centroid, the Southwestern TablelandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Villanueva's 4,644 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 Villanueva's 4,644 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Villanueva you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,644 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 Villanueva-wide figureread your own land →
More in New Mexico
Wider growing context
What grows across New MexicoVillanueva sits outside our named growing regions, so New Mexico as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides