The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when you can plant snap beans is to consult the USDA zone info for Ottawa.

Planting Calendar for Snap beans

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant snap beans until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

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

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Ottawa is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Ottawa last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your snap beans if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ottawa

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 Ottawa

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