One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your 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.

The USDA zone info for Harvard should be reviewed to figure out when it's the best time to plant runner beans.

Planting Calendar for Runner beans

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

Since runner 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 runner beans in Harvard 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. Any later than that and 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 all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Harvard. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Harvard is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Harvard last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your runner beans if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Harvard

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 Harvard

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