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

By referring to the USDA zone info for Ripley you will be able to determine when you can plant snap beans.

Planting Calendar for Snap beans

Frost tolerance for snap beans:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's probably not a good idea to plant snap beans until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant snap beans in Ripley 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 snap beans and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your snap beans may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your snap beans indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Ripley. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ripley is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Ripley you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your snap beans in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ripley

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Ripley

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