One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

One way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant pole beans is to look at the USDA zone info for Smithfield.

Planting Calendar for Pole beans

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

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

The earliest that you can plant pole beans in Smithfield 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 pole beans and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your pole beans may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your pole beans indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Smithfield. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Smithfield is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Smithfield you get a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your pole beans if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Smithfield

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 Smithfield

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