One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your 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 Fairbanks can be reffered to in order to estimate when it's a good idea to plant snap beans.

Planting Calendar for Snap beans

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

Since snap beans do not do well in cold weather it's important to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant snap beans in Fairbanks is May. However, you really should wait until June if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant snap beans and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your snap beans may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your snap beans indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on May 15 in Fairbanks. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -50°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Fairbanks is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Fairbanks you get a frost after May 15 be ready to cover your snap beans if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fairbanks

Here is the info for USDA Zone 2a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	August 15
Lowest Expected Low	-50°F
Highest Expected Low	-45°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -50°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -45°F.

Plants to Grow in Fairbanks

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fairbanks.