When to Plant Snap beans in Oak Park, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 best time to plant snap beans in Oak Park should be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Snap beans

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

It's a bad idea to plant snap beans until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant snap beans in Oak Park 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 snap beans and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your snap beans may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your snap beans indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Oak Park the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Oak Park is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Oak Park you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your snap beans if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Oak Park

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 Oak Park

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Oak Park.