One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Santa Cruz you can determine when it's the best time 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 all chance of frost has passed.

You should not plant runner beans until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant runner beans in Santa Cruz 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 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. Starting your runner beans indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Santa Cruz. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Santa Cruz may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Cruz it frosts late in the year after February 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your runner beans in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Cruz

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 Santa Cruz

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Santa Cruz.