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.

In Rapid City you can figure out when it's the best time to plant runner beans by referring to the USDA zone info.

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 are not cold tolerant which tells us that you have 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 Rapid City 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 really do well. If you are starting your runner beans indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Rapid City the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rapid City may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Rapid City last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your runner beans if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rapid City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

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

Plants to Grow in Rapid City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rapid City.