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

A way of figuring out when you can plant runner beans is to examine the USDA zone info for Elko.

Planting Calendar for Runner beans

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

Runner beans are not cold tolerant which means that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

Last Frost Date

In Elko the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Elko 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 Elko you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your runner beans in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elko

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°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 -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Elko

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