One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first chance to plant runner beans in Raleigh should be determined by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Runner beans

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

It's a bad idea to plant runner beans until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant runner beans in Raleigh 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. If you wait 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 few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Raleigh. You can expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Raleigh is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Raleigh you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your runner beans in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Raleigh

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 Raleigh

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