One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Madison you will be able to estimate 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 has passed.

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

The earliest that you can plant runner beans in Madison 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

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

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Madison and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Madison 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 surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Madison

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 Madison

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