Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Grand Rapids you should be able to determine when it's possible 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.

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

The earliest that you can plant runner beans in Grand Rapids 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 fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your runner beans indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Grand Rapids. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Grand Rapids and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Grand Rapids it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to cover your runner beans if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Grand Rapids

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 Grand Rapids

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Grand Rapids.