One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of getting a good idea when it's a good idea to plant runner beans is to use the USDA zone info for Alamosa.

Planting Calendar for Runner beans

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

You can not plant runner beans until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant runner beans in Alamosa is May. However, you really should wait until June 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 August. If you wait any later than that and your runner beans may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your runner beans indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Alamosa the average date of last frost happens on May 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Alamosa is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Alamosa you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your runner beans if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Alamosa

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°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 -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Alamosa

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