One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can determine when it's possible to plant snap beans in East Chicago by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Snap beans

Frost tolerance for snap beans:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

You should not plant snap beans until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant snap beans in East Chicago 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. If you wait any later than that and your snap beans may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your snap beans indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in East Chicago. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for East Chicago is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in East Chicago you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your snap beans in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for East Chicago

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 East Chicago

You may be interested in your other planting guides for East Chicago.