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 first chance to plant green beans in Chicago should be determined by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Green beans

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

Since green beans are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant green beans in Chicago 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 green beans and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your green beans may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your green beans indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Chicago. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Chicago is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Chicago you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your green beans if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Chicago

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Chicago

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