One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

You should be able to estimate when it's the best time to plant runner beans by using the USDA zone info for Winston-Salem.

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.

Since runner beans require warm weather you must wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant runner beans in Winston-Salem 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. Starting your runner beans indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Winston-Salem. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Winston-Salem may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Winston-Salem it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your runner beans if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Winston-Salem

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 Winston-Salem

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Winston-Salem.