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.

It's a good idea to figure out when it's a good idea to plant runner beans by referring to the USDA zone info for Selma.

Planting Calendar for Runner beans

Frost tolerance for runner beans:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's a bad idea to plant runner beans until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant runner beans in Selma 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 fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your runner beans indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Selma. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Selma and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Selma it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to cover your runner beans in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Selma

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 Selma

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