When to Plant Runner beans in Midlothian, IL

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

One way of making a decision about when to plant runner beans is to refer to the USDA zone info for Midlothian.


Planting Calendar for Runner beans

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

It's not a good idea to plant runner beans until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant runner beans in Midlothian 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 few weeks earlier by starting your runner beans indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Midlothian. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Midlothian may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Midlothian 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 late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Midlothian

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 Midlothian

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