Willard, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Willard, 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 Willard 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 Willard — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Willard — the short answer
Willard, New Mexico: USDA zone 6a, about 177 days between hard freezes, across 590 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~177
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 590 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 Willard's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Willard's 177-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Willard
Each reading below is measured for Willard itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWillard runs about 177 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
MeasuredWillard 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 Willard is in
Willard sits in the Southwestern Tablelands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Willard's own centroid rather than borrowed from Torrance County.
What Grows in Willard
Every plant below cleared Willard's own zone 6a and its 177-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Willard?
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 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 18 — 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 Willard
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Willard. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DEANS GAS AND GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- 04N.09E.07.221Nitrate · 650 ft
- WILLARD STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- 04N.09E.05.340Nitrate · 2500 ft
- PLANTS MART PLUSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- AT AND SF SILIO STATION WILLARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- AT AND SF BRONCHO STATION WILLARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- AT AND SF WILLARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- AT AND SF WILLARD AUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- 05N.08E.36.341Nitrate · 1.7 mi
- 04N.08E.13.100Nitrate · 2.1 mi
- 05N.08E.24.333Nitrate · 3.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Willard'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 Willard.
Total Sites
81
within ~10 miles of Willard
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
74 nitrate monitoring sites
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Willard
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Willard, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 74 sites within ~10 miles of Willard. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Willard
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 Willard average
Your land is one point inside Willard
Everything above resolves to Willard as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 590 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 Willard Average
Willard Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Willard
- ●One soil character for all of Willard
- ●Frost dates read at Willard's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Willard's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Willard
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Willard, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Willard averages can't show:
We read public map data around Willard — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Willard average
How we know this about Willard
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 Willard’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 Willard
When does frost risk typically end in Willard?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Willard typically lands around Apr 24, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Willard?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Willard typically arrives around Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 4, so the watching starts about Sep 18 — about 177 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Willard?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Willard sees about 177 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Oct 4, about 142 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Willard?
The federal record around Willard shows 81 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (74), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Willard?
From about Sep 18 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 18 (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 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Willard's scale — its 6a band and its 177-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Willard'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 Willard’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Willard's own scale — its own ~177-day season between 28°F freezes, the 590 acres it covers and 81 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Willard's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Willard's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 24 and Oct 18 and the ~177-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 81 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Willard, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Willard's boundary and the 590 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~177-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Willard's own centroid, the Southwestern TablelandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Willard's 590 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Torrance County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Torrance 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 Torrance County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Willard's 590 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Willard you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 590 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 Willard-wide figureread your own land →
More in New Mexico
Wider growing context
What grows across New MexicoWillard sits outside our named growing regions, so New Mexico as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides