One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

In Piedmont you can determine when you can plant runner beans by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Runner beans

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant runner beans until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant runner beans in Piedmont is February. However, you really should wait until March 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 September. If you wait any later than that and your runner beans may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your runner beans indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Piedmont. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Piedmont and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Piedmont last frost occurs after January 31 be ready to protect your runner beans if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Piedmont

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Piedmont

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