Santa Fe, NM · zone 6b · ~154 frost-free days
When to plant a garden in Santa Fe.
In Santa Fe, the typical last spring frost lands around May 9 and the first fall frost around Oct 10, giving you about 154 frost-free days. Cool-season crops go out before the last frost; warm-season crops wait until after it.
The 2026 windows
Sow dates for Santa Fe, keyed to your frost.
| Crop | Start indoors | Spring sow / set out | Fall sow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato, slicing | Apr 4 to Jun 4 | May 16 to Jul 16 | — |
| Lettuce, leaf | — | Apr 1 to May 16 | Jul 27 to Sep 25 |
| Carrot | — | Apr 1 to May 4 | Jul 15 to Aug 10 |
| Bush Bean | — | May 9 to Jun 29 | Jun 26 to Jul 29 |
| Cucumber, slicing | — | May 16 to Aug 15 | Jun 9 to Jul 10 |
| Pepper, bell | Apr 13 to Jun 4 | May 25 to Jul 16 | — |
| Kale | Feb 18 to Mar 18 | Apr 1 to Apr 29 | Jul 10 to Aug 25 |
| Spinach | — | Mar 18 to Apr 29 | Jul 27 to Sep 14 |
Santa Fe sits in Zone 6b, but two gardens in the same city can be a week or two apart. The planner works from your ZIP code's frost dates, not the zone, so the dates land right for your block, not the metro average.
Build your Santa Fe garden plan.
Tell the free planner what you want to eat and who you're feeding. It returns plant counts, spacing, and frost-safe sow dates for ZIP 87501 in about 60 seconds.