One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By using the USDA zone info for Richmond it's possible 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 all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably not a good idea to plant snap beans until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant snap beans in Richmond is March. However, you really should wait until April 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 September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your snap beans may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your snap beans indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Richmond. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Richmond is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Richmond it frosts late in the year after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your snap beans in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Richmond

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°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 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Richmond

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