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

You can estimate when it's the best time to plant runner beans in Elizabeth City by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Runner beans

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

Runner beans are not cold tolerant which tells us that you need to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant runner beans in Elizabeth City 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. Any later than that and your runner beans may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your runner beans indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Elizabeth City the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Elizabeth City is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Elizabeth City you get a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your runner beans if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Elizabeth City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Elizabeth City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Elizabeth City.