When to Plant String beans in Evanston, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of determining when it's possible to plant string beans is to examine the USDA zone info for Evanston.


Planting Calendar for String beans

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

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

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant string beans
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant string beans
Probably not a good time to plant string beans

The earliest that you can plant string beans in Evanston 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. If you wait any later than that and your string beans may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your string beans indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Evanston. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Evanston and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Evanston there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your string beans in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Evanston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Evanston

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