Average last frost is around April 17 but you can keep your eye on the weather forcast around that time and adjust it a little. Shrubs and perennials can be planted any time now, pansies too. Now's a great time to add soil amendments and finish any pruning.
Cindy

I am not sure how long you have lived here, but as a child I saw snow in Albuquerque (2-4 inches) in mid April. It can happen here. That said, the way this spring is shaping up, you might be able to get away with it pretty soon. I think we will have a warm spring since the winter was so mild.

I think spring is early this year. I live a few miles south of Albuquerque. My forsythia is putting out leaves, all of the tulips have popped out of the ground, my first crocus is in bloom. I planted onions today. If your child's beans do suffer a frost and die, she can replant.

According to the only listings given for New Mexico in "The Old Farmer's 2008 Almanac" the last frost date for Carlsbad is March 29th and for Los Alamos May 8th. They list Carlsbad as having 223 days of growing season and Los Alamos as having 157 days.

This has been a mild winter. Even if it does snow in April, as it usually does, that doesn't mean a frost. A little bit of snow doesn't necessarily cause damage to plants.

I've put in quite a bit of time preparing soil in recent weeks. I plan to put in produce and flower seeds around mid-March, which is much earlier than I usually plant.
Lorna

It is also arriving early in Southern NM this year --- in the last 2 weeks, the penstemons in our garden, which were volunteer seedlings last year, have started growing stalks and sprouting additional leaves. Some of the hardy iceplant are flowering again, and the rosemary are covered with blue flowers --- and with bees. The weeping willows are emerging in their Spring lime green. Even our palm trees are sending up new leaves! Albuquerque should lag by only 2-3 weeks from what we seeing here. The forecast for the next 10 days looks pretty promising throughout the state.
frdnicholas ----I agree with Lorna --- if your daughter plants beans too early and has to plant again, what a great gardening experience for her to have. I have learned as much from plants I have killed as from those which have thrived......

On a similar question: Can I start watering my fruit trees? Am I risking anything by watering them now in case the weather turns cold again?

I've done a deep watering of all trees three times this winter, because it was a dry winter. If you start watering fruit trees now, they will probably bloom early. That could be a benefit if the blooms are set before those darned blossom destroying winds kick in.
Lorna

I have only lived here 4 years, but I remember the snow in April the first year we moved here. I guess that's why I was asking the question about early planting. My daughter's Science teacher(not a gardener) is wanting her to have results of her experiment soon, so I'm trying to find the earliest that she can plant the bush beans. It certainly does seem like spring will be here soon.

If you need to get the experiment started you could plant them early but keep a close eye on the weather reports and provide protection to the plants on nights/days when freezing is predicted.

Thanks, everyone. I think we will plant the seeds in pots and then cover them if the weather turns.

with this nice weather, I imagine your daughter's project is going great.

That's the frustrating thing. She soaked the beans for about a week, changing the water daily. She had them planted in pots inside until the weather warmed up and then put them outside in the sun. It's now been 2-3 weeks and they haven't come up yet. She is watering them daily with a cup of water. Could it be too much water?

Is your daughter bringing the pots in at night? It's still much too cold outside for beans to germinate, and not warm enough, even in the sun, for soil in the pots to heat up enough to provide the necessary heat to trigger germination. Beans don't need to be soaked before planting, but once they do germinate they are water lovers (unless you plant teparies or other desert beans). I would question that science teacher's knowledge on growing anything in this very difficult climate let alone late winter/early spring without certain accommodations not everyone can make.

Well, we decided to switch the project, so we bought a flat of squash plants already sprouted. She measured them and took pictures. She's adding 2 different fertilizers plus she planted them in 2 different soil types. We'll see which grows better.

I planted some lupine seeds in a flat outdoors a few weeks ago. It took them four weeks to begin to sprout because the weather simply wasn't warm enough. (The soil has to reach a temperature range of something like 60-70 degrees to enable seeds to sprout.) What a shame the teacher is ignorant on the subject of starting seeds in late winter.
My first plant was grown from a pumpkin seed in a paper cup, a school project in second grade. I was enchanted with that pumpkin. I planted it in the back yard, inspected it every day and was delighted to see it grow to be a large vine. Unfortunately for me, my mother took a lawn mower to it before it produced any pumpkins. I was heartbroken.

Lorna

In response to your original question, you can find latest Spring frost dates for Albuquerque, as well as other NM locations, at this website:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/abq/?n=clifeaturespringfreeze

The latest recorded dates for Albuquerque are from early May to late May, depending upon the area of town -- the valley is more prone to late freezing than the heights (as cold air sinks). Our "early Spring" weather can be deceptive, so be careful about jumping the gun with planting. Good luck with your project!