One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

A common way of estimating when it's the best time to plant pole beans is to examine the USDA zone info for Abilene.

Planting Calendar for Pole beans

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

You really shouldn't plant pole beans until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant pole beans in Abilene 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 pole beans and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your pole beans may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your pole beans indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Abilene. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Abilene is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Abilene there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your pole beans if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Abilene

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 Abilene

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