What USDA hardiness zone is Grant County, New Mexico?

Grant County, New Mexico spans USDA hardiness zones 7b to 8a. 87% of its ZIP codes are zone 7b, so there is no single zone for the county.

When is the last spring frost in Grant County, New Mexico?

The median last spring freeze runs April 4 – May 26 across the 8 NOAA weather stations serving Grant County, New Mexico, from NOAA 1991-2020 Climate Normals. Half of years freeze later than the median.

New Mexico

Planting zones in Grant County, New Mexico

This county spans USDA zones 7b to 8a, so there is no single zone for Grant County and anyone who gives you one is rounding. 87% of its ZIP codes are zone 7b; the rest are not.

USDA zones 7b–8a 2 zones across 15 ZIP codes

ZIP codes 15 15 have a NOAA station within range

Weather stations 8 NOAA 1991–2020 normals, across 3,961 sq mi

Your ZIP code

Get the exact answer for your address

Everything above describes Grant County, New Mexico as a whole. Hardiness zones and freeze dates are published per ZIP code, so yours is exact — enter it and this page will tell you your zone, which NOAA station it comes from and how far away that station is.

The growing season in Grant County is closing

Nothing in the 32-crop table still has time to mature here. The first fall freeze normally arrives October 5 – November 8 across the 8 NOAA stations serving this county .

Your next season already has a date

The first job of it is 🧅 Green Onions, start indoors, around February 7 – March 31 — counted back from a last spring freeze of April 4 – May 26 here.

Every spring date for your ZIP →

These are ranges across the whole county. The ZIP lookup above gives the dates from your own nearest station instead.

All 8 stations agreeAt least one station

Every one of the 8 NOAA stations serving this county counts May 26 – October 5 as growing season (132 days). Widening to any single station gives April 4 – November 8 (218 days).

That is a 86-day difference inside one county — which is why this page gives ranges rather than a single planting date. The ZIP lookup above resolves it to one station.

Which zone you are in depends where you are

Grant County covers 2 hardiness zones. A guide that gives the county one zone has picked whichever is largest and rounded everyone else into it — fine for the 87% in zone 7b and wrong for the other 13%. Here is the actual split.

Zone	ZIP codes	Share
7b	13	87%
8a	2	13%

Zones are published per ZIP code, so yours is exact even though the county's is not. The hardiness tool will tell you which one you are in.

Your freeze dates

Last spring freeze April 4 – May 26

First fall freeze October 5 – November 8

Across the 8 NOAA stations serving this county. These are medians — half of years freeze later than the date shown — so treat the later end of each range as the cautious one.

The growing season runs 129–216 days depending which station you are nearest, as published by NOAA rather than computed from the dates above. Summer highs average 87.3–97 °F in June–August. That is past the point where tomato and pepper pollen fails and cool-season greens bolt, so in this county heat decides as much as frost does. Summer rain over the same months runs 4.1–7.7" across those 8 stations, against the rough inch a week — about 13 inches over the same 92 days — that a vegetable garden is usually reckoned to want. The middle station covers about 49% of it, so expect to make up the rest. The inches are NOAA's published normals; the inch a week is a rule of thumb, and it takes no account of a 90 °F summer afternoon drying the soil faster than a cool one.

Every ZIP code in Grant County

Zones are published per ZIP code, not per county, so this is the exact answer rather than the county's average. The station column is the nearest one to that ZIP code's centroid and how far away it is — the same figure the tools use, shown here so you can see which ZIP codes are well covered and which are reaching.

ZIP code	USDA zone	Nearest NOAA station	Distance
88022	7b	Ft Bayard, NM	3.6 km
88023	7b	Ft Bayard, NM	9.9 km
88025	7b	Glenwood, NM	27.7 km
88026	7b	Ft Bayard, NM	4.8 km
88028	7b	Cliff 11 SE, NM	21.4 km
88034	8a	Faywood, NM	9.5 km
88038	7b	Gila Hot Springs, NM	16.1 km
88041	7b	Faywood, NM	20.2 km
88043	8a	Ft Bayard, NM	21.5 km
88049	7b	Gila Hot Springs, NM	21.6 km
88051	7b	Duncan, AZ	33.7 km
88053	7b	Ft Bayard, NM	12.8 km
88055	7b	Redrock 1 Nne, NM	2.8 km
88061	7b	White Signal, NM	8.6 km
88065	7b	Ft Bayard, NM	16.7 km

ZIP-code positions are area centroids, so a large rural ZIP code's listed distance is measured from the middle of its area rather than from any particular address in it.

When to start seeds in Grant County

Every date below is anchored on the last spring freeze at each station and reported as a range across all 8 of them, because no one station speaks for the county.

Crop	Job	When	Offset
🧅 Green Onions	Start indoors	February 7 – March 31	8 wk before
🌶️ Peppers	Start indoors	February 7 – March 31	8 wk before
🥦 Broccoli	Start indoors	February 21 – April 14	6 wk before
🥬 Cabbage	Start indoors	February 21 – April 14	6 wk before
🥬 Collards	Start indoors	February 21 – April 14	6 wk before
🥬 Kale	Start indoors	February 21 – April 14	6 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Start indoors	February 21 – April 14	6 wk before
🫛 Peas	Direct sow	February 21 – April 14	6 wk before
🥬 Spinach	Direct sow	February 21 – April 14	6 wk before
🍠 Sweet Potato	Start indoors	February 21 – April 14	6 wk before
🍅 Tomatoes	Start indoors	February 21 – April 14	6 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Start indoors	February 28 – April 21	5 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Start indoors	February 28 – April 21	5 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Start indoors	February 28 – April 21	5 wk before
🥬 Arugula	Direct sow	March 7 – April 28	4 wk before
🥬 Baby Salad Greens	Direct sow	March 7 – April 28	4 wk before
🥕 Beets	Direct sow	March 7 – April 28	4 wk before
🧅 Green Onions	Direct sow	March 7 – April 28	4 wk before
🥬 Mustard Greens	Direct sow	March 7 – April 28	4 wk before
🌶️ Okra	Start indoors	March 7 – April 28	4 wk before
🌱 Radishes	Direct sow	March 7 – April 28	4 wk before
🥔 Turnips	Direct sow	March 7 – April 28	4 wk before
🥬 Cabbage	Set out	March 14 – May 5	3 wk before
🥕 Carrots	Direct sow	March 14 – May 5	3 wk before
🥬 Collards	Direct sow	March 14 – May 5	3 wk before
🥬 Collards	Set out	March 14 – May 5	3 wk before
🥒 Cucumbers	Start indoors	March 14 – May 5	3 wk before
🧅 Green Onions	Set out	March 14 – May 5	3 wk before
🥬 Kale	Direct sow	March 14 – May 5	3 wk before
🥬 Kale	Set out	March 14 – May 5	3 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Direct sow	March 14 – May 5	3 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Set out	March 14 – May 5	3 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Direct sow	March 14 – May 5	3 wk before
🎃 Pumpkins	Start indoors	March 14 – May 5	3 wk before
🎃 Summer Squash	Start indoors	March 14 – May 5	3 wk before
🎃 Winter Squash	Start indoors	March 14 – May 5	3 wk before
🥒 Zucchini	Start indoors	March 14 – May 5	3 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Direct sow	March 21 – May 12	2 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Set out	March 21 – May 12	2 wk before
🥦 Broccoli	Set out	March 21 – May 12	2 wk before
🌿 Cilantro	Direct sow	March 21 – May 12	2 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Set out	March 21 – May 12	2 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Direct sow	March 21 – May 12	2 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Set out	March 21 – May 12	2 wk before
🌿 Dill	Direct sow	March 28 – May 19	1 wk before
🫘 Bush Beans	Direct sow	April 11 – June 2	1 wk after
🥒 Cucumbers	Set out	April 11 – June 2	1 wk after
🎃 Pumpkins	Direct sow	April 11 – June 2	1 wk after
🎃 Pumpkins	Set out	April 11 – June 2	1 wk after
🎃 Summer Squash	Direct sow	April 11 – June 2	1 wk after
🎃 Summer Squash	Set out	April 11 – June 2	1 wk after
🌽 Sweet Corn	Direct sow	April 11 – June 2	1 wk after
🍅 Tomatoes	Set out	April 11 – June 2	1 wk after
🎃 Winter Squash	Direct sow	April 11 – June 2	1 wk after
🎃 Winter Squash	Set out	April 11 – June 2	1 wk after
🥒 Zucchini	Direct sow	April 11 – June 2	1 wk after
🥒 Zucchini	Set out	April 11 – June 2	1 wk after
🥒 Cucumbers	Direct sow	April 18 – June 9	2 wk after
🌶️ Okra	Direct sow	April 18 – June 9	2 wk after
🌶️ Okra	Set out	April 18 – June 9	2 wk after
🌶️ Peppers	Set out	April 18 – June 9	2 wk after
🫘 Southern Peas	Direct sow	April 18 – June 9	2 wk after
🍠 Sweet Potato	Set out	April 18 – June 9	2 wk after

Offsets are published guidance; the dates they land on are computed from measured NOAA normals. The seed-starting tool does this for your own ZIP code and counts the days.

What survives the winter changes across Grant County

Zone 8a carries 57 of 74 perennial edibles; zone 7b carries 56. The best number is not always the warmest zone — the count peaks in the middle and falls both ways, because the warm end loses plants to insufficient winter chill and summer heat, not to cold.

Hardiness ranges are a judgement, published by growers rather than measured; the zone they are compared against is measured. On a warm-end verdict, check with your local extension service — a coastal zone 8 and an inland zone 8 are not the same summer.

Cautious — shortens the seasonMedian across stationsOptimistic

Last spring freeze: Plan to June 8 to be careful. Median April 4 – May 26 across 8 stations; March 14 is the optimistic end.
First fall freeze: Plan to September 23 to be careful. Median October 5 – November 8 across 8 stations; November 24 is the optimistic end.

NOAA publishes these as probabilities, not averages — the middle figure is a median, so half of years fall either side of it. The cautious end is the 10% tail: in roughly nine years in ten the freeze falls on the safe side of it.

The 8 stations behind these numbers

All 8 NOAA stations whose normals this page quotes, spanning about 84 km north to south. Every one is named with its identifier in the station list below — this page does not single one out, because no one station speaks for a whole county.

A relative sketch, not a map with a projection: longitude is adjusted for latitude so the shape is not stretched, and there is no basemap. For the one station nearest a specific address, with its real distance, use the ZIP lookup above.

These are the stations this county's ZIP codes actually cite as nearest — not a claim that each one sits inside its boundary, since a rural ZIP legitimately reaches over it. Every figure above comes from them, and each is named so you can check it.

Station	NOAA ID	Last spring freeze	First fall freeze	Season
Cliff 11 SE, NM	USC00291910	May 9	October 15	157 days
Duncan, AZ	USC00022754	April 24	October 25	183 days
Faywood, NM	USC00293157	April 21	October 31	191 days
Ft Bayard, NM	USC00293265	April 4	November 8	216 days
Gila Hot Springs, NM	USC00293530	May 26	October 5	129 days
Glenwood, NM	USC00293577	May 6	October 18	164 days
Redrock 1 Nne, NM	USC00297340	April 30	October 23	175 days
White Signal, NM	USC00299691	April 23	October 26	185 days

These are medians, not averages — NOAA publishes freeze dates as a probability distribution, and half of years freeze later than the date shown.

Your own ZIP

Work out your own dates

This page describes a whole county. Every tool below answers for one ZIP code, which is the grain the underlying data is published at.

Other places to compare

Grant County sits in New Mexico. That page carries the whole state's zone spread, its metro areas, and every other county in it with a page here.

More of New Mexico

Counties with the same zones — 7b–8a

Matched on the exact zone set, not a dominant zone, so the winter answer on these pages really is the same one as here.

Gear

If you want to act on this

Each link opens an Amazon search rather than a product we picked. We have not tested these and do not rank them — the search is the honest version, and you choose.

Shade clothSummer highs here average 90 °F, at or above the 90 °F point where lettuce and spinach bolt and tomato pollen fails.
Row cover and frost clothThe season here closes at the first fall freeze dated above — a cover buys back some of those days at the end.
MulchFor the perennials nearest their cold limit in zone 7b, where an insulated crown is what decides whether they come back.

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. That costs you nothing extra, and it buys no influence over anything on this site: the dates come from NOAA normals and the zones from the USDA, and no product affects either.

Sources

Where these numbers come from

Hardiness zones are the USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, published per ZIP code by PRISM at Oregon State. Freeze dates and growing-season lengths are NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, taken per station and cited above by name and NOAA ID.

County boundaries come from the Census ZCTA-to-county relation, which is what places each ZIP code — and which treats parishes, boroughs and census areas as county equivalents. No station is chosen to represent this county: every range above is taken across all of them and the count is stated, because picking one would be a judgement dressed as a measurement.