One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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 way of determining when it's the best time to plant runner beans is to refer to the USDA zone info for Monmouth.

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.

Runner beans do not do well in cold weather which means that you must wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant runner beans in Monmouth 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 couple of weeks earlier by starting your runner beans indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Monmouth. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Monmouth 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 Monmouth it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to cover your runner beans if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Monmouth

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

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

Plants to Grow in Monmouth

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