Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant snap beans is to use the USDA zone info for Palo Alto.

Planting Calendar for Snap beans

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

Since snap beans require warm weather you really should wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant snap beans in Palo Alto is March. However, you really should wait until April 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 September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your snap beans may not have a chance to fully mature. 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 is on February 15 in Palo Alto. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Palo Alto may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Palo Alto there is a last frost after February 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your snap beans in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Palo Alto

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Palo Alto

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Palo Alto.