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.

The best time to plant runner beans in Manchester can be determined by looking at 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.

You really shouldn't 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 Manchester 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 runner beans and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your runner beans may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your runner beans indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Manchester. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Manchester 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 Manchester you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your runner beans if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Manchester

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 Manchester

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