One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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 figuring out when it's possible to plant snap beans is to examine the USDA zone info for Mankato.

Planting Calendar for Snap beans

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant snap beans until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant snap beans in Mankato is May. However, you really should wait until June 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 fully mature. Starting your snap beans indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Mankato. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Mankato is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Mankato you get surprised by a frost after May 15 be ready to protect your snap beans in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mankato

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Mankato

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