The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant green beans is to refer to the USDA zone info for Salem.

Planting Calendar for Green beans

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

It's not a good idea to plant green beans until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant green beans in Salem 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 green beans and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your green beans may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your green beans indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Salem the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Salem is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Salem you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your green beans in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Salem

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Salem

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