A Few Questions About Alamogordo (Las Cruces, La Luz: homes, scorpions, construction) - New Mexico (NM) - City-Data Forum

janinco · 02-06-2008, 01:13 PM

We are looking into moving in a year or two and had a few questions:

What is the average growing season?

Can you grow any citrus trees?

What kinds of bugs do you have to deal with? (When we lived in Tucson we had tons of earwigs, ants, and scorpions.) Can you take care of most problems with non-toxic/natural pest control?

Are evaporative coolers adequate to keep a home cool in the hottest months? It looks like the more expensive homes have air conditioning.

What are the major grocery stores?

Thanks so much for any input - it will be quite a change from the Colorado mountains, but we just can't take these winters much longer!

Jan

Cathy4017 · 02-06-2008, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by janinco

We are looking into moving in a year or two and had a few questions: Jan

What is the average growing season?

209 days (from Best Plants for New Mexico Gardens and Landscapes)

Can you grow any citrus trees?

No. It gets far too cold at night here for that, in the teens at times.

What kinds of bugs do you have to deal with? (When we lived in Tucson we had tons of earwigs, ants, and scorpions.) Can you take care of most problems with non-toxic/natural pest control?

Same thing here...and you can probably use non-toxics many times, as I always try to do.

Are evaporative coolers adequate to keep a home cool in the hottest months? It looks like the more expensive homes have air conditioning.

Depends on your tolerance. As it can get to 102 (as it was the day I arrived here permanently las August)...and an evaporative cooler only cools to around 20 degrees cooler, you can go from there. I don't like the mold and humidity in the air, so I am glad I ended up with refrigerated air.

What are the major grocery stores?

Only two....Walmart SuperCenter and Lowe's, both of which have most of what I need.

Thanks so much for any input - it will be quite a change from the Colorado mountains, but we just can't take these winters much longer!

Colorado Mountains..? *Drool* But...having said that, these Sacramentos and San Andres/Organs here are pretty fantastic.

catman · 02-06-2008, 02:26 PM

Cathy4017: Lowe's is a grocery store in Alamogordo? Here in Ft Worth, it's a hardware store. Maybe it's a different Lowe's!

Cathy4017 · 02-06-2008, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catman

Cathy4017: Lowe's is a grocery store in Alamogordo? Here in Ft Worth, it's a hardware store. Maybe it's a different Lowe's!

Yep, that's what I thought when I heard about it, too, Catman.....two different companies entirely.

The Lowe's (big yellow sign) grocery store is on 10th street, and has been there for quite some time, apparently.

There is also the Lowe's hardware (big blue and white sign)/home improvement on Scenic/White Sands, too!

janinco · 02-06-2008, 03:09 PM

Cathy,

Thanks for the information. We love the mountains but the past two years have been so much colder and since my husband is in construction the cold and snow knock out several productive months a year. Our heating bills are getting out of sight and our muscles and joints complaining more than ever, so the warmer climate sounds very inviting.

It will be very different living in a smaller city, but as long as we can get the essentials that shouldn't be a problem. I would love to have a small garden if the water cost isn't prohibitive. We're used to restrictions out here and it sounds similar in Alamogordo.

Jan

Cathy4017 · 02-06-2008, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by janinco

Cathy,

Thanks for the information. We love the mountains but the past two years have been so much colder and since my husband is in construction the cold and snow knock out several productive months a year. Our heating bills are getting out of sight and our muscles and joints complaining more than ever, so the warmer climate sounds very inviting.

It will be very different living in a smaller city, but as long as we can get the essentials that shouldn't be a problem. I would love to have a small garden if the water cost isn't prohibitive. We're used to restrictions out here and it sounds similar in Alamogordo.

Jan

You're most welcome....

Colorado Springs has an awful lot going for it, but it is considerably larger than Alamogordo's 40K people. They do construction mostly year-around here, and it's going right now.

The winter here has been terrific so far.....and it's hard to complain with sunny skies and dry crisp air. I wanted more snow, since I wanted to go skiing at Sierra Blanca/Ski Apache, but conditions are not very good right now.

Watering restrictions are in place during the summer, but you should be able to water a small garden without any problems. As of last summer, you could water 3 days a week (depending on your address) between 6pm and 9am. I will probably put in a few containers and maybe a row or so of tomatoes this summer, but that's about it. My front is rock (and it's going to stay that way, with only a couple of desert plants at the most next fall)....and I am going to add some paving stones to get rid of some of the grass in back.

Taking care of a lawn in the desert is for the birds! I thought my yard was going to be about 15 x 30, but when all was said and done, it ended up as 24 x 60.....so if I can get it to about 40 or so instead of 60, that will be enough grass for the dogs!

Six Foot Three · 02-06-2008, 07:23 PM

Whenever i travel on U.S.54 from Zozo to Alamo i always noticed tons of cars with Colorado License Plates going to and from the Alamogordo region. Maybe snowbirds i'm thinking.....

catman · 02-07-2008, 01:57 AM

Cathy4017: Ah, so you have two different kinds of Lowe's there! I had never heard of a Lowe's grocery store before.

Cathy4017 · 02-07-2008, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catman

Cathy4017: Ah, so you have two different kinds of Lowe's there! I had never heard of a Lowe's grocery store before.

I hadn't either.....they do have a very few locations in West Texas, but I had never seen one before.

Now if we would just get a Sam's....LOL!!

And...I still miss HEB really bad!!

Thank God for the internet and UPS/USPS/FedEX and DHL (??)!!!

mike0421 · 02-07-2008, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cathy4017

I hadn't either.....they do have a very few locations in West Texas, but I had never seen one before.

Now if we would just get a Sam's....LOL!!

And...I still miss HEB really bad!!

Thank God for the internet and UPS/USPS/FedEX and DHL (??)!!!

We have two Lowe's as well in Las Cruces. Unfortuately, both are terribly overpriced. Unlike Alamogordo, we also have three Albertson's, like Lowe's, terribly overpriced. Albertson's used to have a location on White Sands Boulevard at 10th street, but it was closed about a year before I moved to La Luz. The Lowe's in Alamo, I have to say, was pretty underwhelming. Every time I went in there to shop, there was a rank odor emanating from the place.