Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Lake in the Hills should be reviewed to estimate when it's a good idea 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 has passed.

Runner beans are not cold tolerant which means that you have to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant runner beans in Lake in the Hills 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. If you wait any later than that and your runner beans may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your runner beans indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Lake in the Hills. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lake in the Hills is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Lake in the Hills last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your runner beans in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake in the Hills

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 Lake in the Hills

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lake in the Hills.