When to Plant String beans in Grand Rapids, MI

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.

The first opportunity to plant string beans in Grand Rapids should be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for String beans

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

String beans require warm weather which means that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
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A good time to plant string beans
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant string beans
Probably not a good time to plant string beans

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

Last Frost Date

In Grand Rapids 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.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Grand Rapids and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Grand Rapids it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your string 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.