When to plant in Santa Clara, NM

Planting dates worked out from Santa Clara's own frost records, not a generic zone chart.

Safe to plant out

May 5

1 year in 10 has a later frost

Average last frost

Apr 20

about a 50% chance of a later one

Average first fall frost

Oct 28

1 year in 10 by Oct 15

Frost-free days

188

median, 1991–2020

Station used: Ft Bayard 4w · 7.3 km away · station 1874 m, town 1822 m. How we match towns to stations

This season

Plan your garden.

Build my Santa Clara plan

Planting dates for common crops

Crop	Start indoors	Plant out or sow	Harvest from
Tomato	Mar 10 – Mar 24	May 5 – May 19	Jun 29
Sweet pepper	Feb 24 – Mar 10	May 5 – May 19	Jul 4
Lettuce (leaf)	Feb 16 – Feb 23	Mar 23 – Apr 6	May 2
Peas	—	Mar 9 – Apr 6	May 3
Bush beans	—	Apr 28 – May 19	Jun 17
Carrot	—	Mar 30 – May 11	May 29
Beet	—	Mar 23 – May 4	May 12
Potato	—	Mar 30 – Apr 20	Jun 8
Kale	Feb 9 – Feb 23	Mar 23 – Apr 6	May 5
Broccoli	Feb 9 – Feb 23	Mar 23 – Apr 13	May 22
Cucumber	Apr 7 – Apr 14	May 5 – May 19	Jun 24
Summer squash and zucchini	Apr 7 – Apr 14	May 5 – May 19	Jun 19
Winter squash	Apr 7 – Apr 14	May 5 – May 19	Jul 24
Sweet corn	—	Apr 28 – May 19	Jun 27
Onion (from sets)	—	Mar 23 – Apr 13	Jun 21
Garlic	—	Oct 14 – Nov 11 (fall)	following summer
Spinach	—	Mar 9 – Apr 6	Apr 16
Basil	Mar 24 – Apr 7	May 5 – May 19	Jul 1

Plan all 65 crops for Santa Clara

Santa Clara's weather over time

How the growing season has shifted here, year by year, from the station's own records.

Each year's last spring frostLong-term trend

See the data as a table

Year	Last spring frost
1899	May 3
1900	Apr 29
1901	Apr 17
1902	Apr 21
1903	Apr 28
1904	May 2
1905	Apr 19
1906	Apr 12
1907	Apr 22
1908	Apr 10
1909	May 1
1910	Apr 14
1911	Apr 2
1912	May 6
1913	May 3
1914	May 2
1915	May 7
1916	May 20
1917	May 20
1919	Apr 28
1921	May 8
1924	Apr 26
1925	Apr 8
1926	Mar 31
1927	May 8
1928	Apr 24
1929	Apr 21
1930	May 10
1931	Apr 10
1932	Apr 28
1933	May 13
1934	Apr 4
1935	May 5
1936	Apr 10
1937	Apr 30
1938	May 7
1939	Apr 15
1940	Apr 18
1941	May 2
1942	Apr 30
1943	Apr 11
1944	May 4
1945	May 21
1946	Apr 3
1947	Apr 28
1948	May 2
1949	Apr 12
1950	May 6
1951	May 2
1952	Apr 22
1953	May 18
1954	May 2
1955	May 3
1956	May 14
1957	May 16
1958	Apr 15
1959	Apr 13
1961	Apr 27
1962	Jun 3
1963	Apr 28
1964	May 7
1965	May 9
1967	May 3
1968	Apr 29
1970	May 1
1971	Apr 22
1972	Apr 24
1973	Apr 27
1974	Apr 14
1975	May 8
1976	Apr 20
1977	Apr 21
1978	Apr 18
1979	May 11
1980	Apr 25
1981	May 21
1982	Apr 24
1983	Apr 15
1984	Apr 30
1985	Apr 27
1986	Apr 18
1987	Apr 14
1988	May 31
1989	Apr 27
1990	May 2
1991	May 5
1992	Apr 3
1993	Apr 20
1994	Apr 30
1995	May 9
1996	Apr 22
1997	Apr 27
1998	Apr 27
1999	Apr 17
2000	Apr 2
2001	May 5
2002	Apr 21
2003	Apr 16
2004	Apr 12
2005	Apr 11
2006	Apr 7
2007	Apr 22
2008	Apr 18
2009	Apr 17
2024	Apr 10
2025	Apr 20
2026	Mar 7

Each year's frost-free daysLong-term trend

See the data as a table

Year	Frost-free days
1899	165
1900	182
1901	178
1902	164
1903	169
1904	168
1905	187
1906	184
1907	203
1908	191
1909	159
1910	190
1911	202
1912	157
1913	146
1914	195
1915	187
1916	157
1917	151
1924	164
1925	210
1926	216
1927	157
1928	172
1929	185
1930	171
1931	216
1932	173
1933	173
1934	229
1935	172
1936	206
1937	192
1938	179
1939	197
1940	179
1941	180
1942	183
1943	191
1944	186
1945	131
1946	186
1947	169
1948	186
1949	180
1950	182
1951	183
1952	167
1953	155
1954	178
1955	156
1956	163
1957	149
1958	194
1959	205
1962	157
1963	191
1964	166
1967	165
1968	187
1970	159
1971	178
1972	180
1974	198
1975	176
1976	170
1977	199
1978	211
1979	163
1981	155
1982	168
1983	209
1984	193
1985	188
1986	178
1987	208
1988	164
1989	165
1990	160
1991	175
1992	187
1993	190
1994	168
1995	178
1996	182
1997	168
1998	189
1999	183
2000	212
2001	192
2002	190
2003	191
2005	214
2006	234
2007	183
2008	187
2009	194
2024	207
2025	214

Each year's average temperature, April to SeptemberLong-term trend

See the data as a table

Year	Growing-season temperature
1899	18.4 °C
1900	19.0 °C
1901	19.0 °C
1902	18.9 °C
1903	18.9 °C
1904	19.2 °C
1905	18.3 °C
1906	18.9 °C
1907	18.8 °C
1908	18.1 °C
1909	18.8 °C
1910	19.9 °C
1911	18.9 °C
1912	17.5 °C
1913	17.8 °C
1914	18.2 °C
1915	17.7 °C
1916	18.1 °C
1917	18.4 °C
1924	19.5 °C
1925	19.1 °C
1926	18.3 °C
1927	18.7 °C
1928	18.1 °C
1929	18.6 °C
1930	18.6 °C
1931	18.6 °C
1932	18.6 °C
1933	18.5 °C
1934	19.9 °C
1935	18.7 °C
1936	19.6 °C
1937	19.5 °C
1938	18.5 °C
1939	19.2 °C
1940	18.4 °C
1941	17.2 °C
1942	18.0 °C
1943	19.1 °C
1944	17.6 °C
1945	18.2 °C
1946	19.4 °C
1947	19.0 °C
1948	19.7 °C
1949	17.9 °C
1950	18.2 °C
1951	19.9 °C
1953	18.3 °C
1954	19.1 °C
1955	18.0 °C
1956	19.1 °C
1957	17.6 °C
1958	18.7 °C
1959	18.7 °C
1961	17.4 °C
1962	18.2 °C
1963	18.7 °C
1964	17.8 °C
1967	17.9 °C
1968	17.5 °C
1970	18.5 °C
1971	18.4 °C
1972	18.1 °C
1973	18.1 °C
1974	19.0 °C
1975	17.7 °C
1976	18.4 °C
1977	19.6 °C
1978	19.4 °C
1979	18.8 °C
1980	18.7 °C
1981	18.8 °C
1982	19.3 °C
1983	18.6 °C
1984	19.0 °C
1985	19.3 °C
1986	18.9 °C
1987	18.6 °C
1988	18.6 °C
1989	19.5 °C
1990	18.9 °C
1991	17.7 °C
1993	19.4 °C
1994	20.5 °C
1995	19.0 °C
1996	18.9 °C
1997	19.8 °C
1998	19.0 °C
1999	18.5 °C
2000	20.8 °C
2001	19.6 °C
2002	20.3 °C
2003	20.2 °C
2005	19.9 °C
2006	20.4 °C
2007	20.6 °C
2008	20.2 °C
2009	20.8 °C
2024	20.8 °C
2025	20.6 °C
2026	21.4 °C

What this means for you: Since 1899, Santa Clara's last spring frost has stayed at about the same time of year. The frost-free season has grown by about 1 days per decade. Year-to-year swings are large, so keep using the safe date rather than the trend.

Source: daily records from Ft Bayard 4w (NOAA GHCN-Daily). Years with too many missing days are left out.

Nearby towns

Bayard Arenas Valley Hurley Silver City Keeler Farm Deming