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.

The earliest that you can plant string beans in Ocala should be figured out by looking at 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 are not cold tolerant you must wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant string beans in Ocala 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 string beans and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your string beans may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your string 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 February 15 in Ocala. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ocala may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Ocala you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your string beans if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ocala

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

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

Plants to Grow in Ocala

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