The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when to plant scarlet runner beans is to check out the USDA zone info for Amherst.

Planting Calendar for Scarlet Runner Beans

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant scarlet runner beans until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant scarlet runner beans in Amherst 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 scarlet runner beans and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your scarlet runner beans may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your scarlet runner beans indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Amherst. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Amherst is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Amherst last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your scarlet runner beans in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Amherst

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 Amherst

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