One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You should be able to determine when it's the best time to plant runner beans by referring to the USDA zone info for Auburn.

Planting Calendar for Runner beans

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

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

The earliest that you can plant runner beans in Auburn 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. If you wait any later than that and your runner beans may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your runner beans indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Auburn. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Auburn is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Auburn last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your runner beans if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Auburn

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 Auburn

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