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.

In Lancaster you can determine when it's possible to plant runner beans by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Runner beans

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant runner beans until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant runner beans in Lancaster 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. 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

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Lancaster. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Lancaster is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Lancaster you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your runner beans if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Lancaster

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 Lancaster

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