One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

In Franklin you can determine when it's the best time to plant runner beans by looking at the USDA zone info.

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.

You can not plant runner beans until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant runner beans in Franklin 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your runner beans indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Franklin. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Franklin is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Franklin there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your runner beans in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Franklin

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Franklin

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