One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of estimating when to plant string beans is to refer to the USDA zone info for Valley City.

Planting Calendar for String beans

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

You really shouldn't plant string beans until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant string beans in Valley City is May. However, you really should wait until June if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant string beans and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your string beans may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your string beans indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Valley City. It might get as low as -30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Valley City is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Valley City it frosts late in the year after May 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your string beans if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Valley City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Valley City

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