One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The best time to plant string beans in Sterling should be determined by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for String beans

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

Since string beans do not do well in cold weather you really should wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant string beans in Sterling is April. However, you really should wait until May 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 August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your string beans may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your string beans indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Sterling. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Sterling and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Sterling you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your string beans in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Sterling

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Sterling

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