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.

One way of getting a good idea when you can plant string beans is to refer to the USDA zone info for Palo Alto.

Planting Calendar for String beans

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

String beans require warm weather which tells us that it is necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant string 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 string beans and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your string beans may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your string beans indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Palo Alto. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Palo Alto may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Palo Alto you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your string beans if you have one of those late frosts.

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.