One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

The USDA zone info for Durham should be reviewed to figure out when it's the best time to plant snap beans.

Planting Calendar for Snap beans

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

Snap beans are not cold tolerant which means that it's important to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant snap beans in Durham 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 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. If you are starting your snap 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 Durham. You should expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Durham may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Durham last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your snap beans if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Durham

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Durham

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