Wagon Mound, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Wagon Mound, 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 Wagon Mound 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 Wagon Mound — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wagon Mound — the short answer
Wagon Mound, New Mexico: USDA zone 6a, about 166 days between hard freezes, across 648 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~166
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 648 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 Wagon Mound's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wagon Mound's 166-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wagon Mound
Each reading below is measured for Wagon Mound itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWagon Mound 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
MeasuredWagon Mound 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 Wagon Mound is in
Wagon Mound sits in the Southwestern Tablelands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Wagon Mound's own centroid rather than borrowed from Mora County.
What Grows in Wagon Mound
Every plant below cleared Wagon Mound'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 Wagon Mound?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 13 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Wagon Mound
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wagon Mound. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WAGON MOUND PHILLIPS 66 STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- NMDOT WAGON MOUND PATROL YARD 44 64Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- LJM TRAVEL CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- CANYON COLORADO RANCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.0 mi
- LEVIS TEXACO 2Underground Storage Tanks · 8.9 mi
- CORN CONSTRUCTION COBrownfields · 8.9 mi
Measured from Wagon Mound'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 Wagon Mound.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wagon Mound
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Wagon Mound
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 Wagon Mound average
Your land is one point inside Wagon Mound
Everything above resolves to Wagon Mound as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 648 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 Wagon Mound Average
Wagon Mound Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Wagon Mound
- ●One soil character for all of Wagon Mound
- ●Frost dates read at Wagon Mound's scale: Apr 30 to Oct 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wagon Mound's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wagon Mound
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wagon Mound, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wagon Mound averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wagon Mound — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wagon Mound average
How we know this about Wagon Mound
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 Wagon Mound’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 Wagon Mound
When does frost risk typically end in Wagon Mound?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wagon Mound typically lands around Apr 30, 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 21.
When is the first frost in Wagon Mound?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wagon Mound typically arrives around Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 29, so the watching starts about Sep 13 — about 166 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wagon Mound?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wagon Mound sees about 166 frost-free days — roughly Apr 30 through Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 21 to Sep 29, about 131 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wagon Mound?
The federal record around Wagon Mound is light — 6 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (5), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Wagon Mound?
From about Sep 13 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 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Wagon Mound's scale — its 6a band and its 166-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wagon Mound'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 Wagon Mound’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wagon Mound's own scale — its own ~166-day season between 28°F freezes, the 648 acres it covers and 6 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wagon Mound's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wagon Mound's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 30 and Oct 13 and the ~166-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 6 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wagon Mound, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wagon Mound's boundary and the 648 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~166-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Wagon Mound's own centroid, the Southwestern TablelandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Wagon Mound's 648 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Mora County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Mora 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 Mora County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wagon Mound's 648 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wagon Mound you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 648 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Wagon Mound-wide figureread your own land →