One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the 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 common way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant pole beans is to use the USDA zone info for Summit.

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.

You should not plant pole beans until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant pole beans in Summit 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your pole beans may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your pole beans indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Summit. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Summit is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Summit you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your pole beans in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Summit

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°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 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Summit

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