When to Plant Runner beans in West Chicago, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for West Chicago can be looked at to figure out when it's the best time to plant runner beans.

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Planting Calendar for Runner beans

Frost tolerance for runner beans: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost has passed.

It's not a good idea to plant runner beans until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant runner beans
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant runner beans
Probably not a good time to plant runner beans

The earliest that you can plant runner beans in West Chicago is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant runner beans and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your runner beans may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your runner beans indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in West Chicago. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for West Chicago is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in West Chicago you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your runner beans if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for West Chicago

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-15°F
Highest Expected Low-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in West Chicago

You may be interested in your other planting guides for West Chicago.