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.

In San Mateo you can determine when it's possible to plant runner beans by checking out 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 the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant runner beans in San Mateo 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. Any later than that and your runner beans may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your runner beans indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on January 31 in San Mateo. You should expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for San Mateo and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in San Mateo there is a last frost after January 31 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your runner beans if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for San Mateo

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 San Mateo

You may be interested in your other planting guides for San Mateo.