Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Portsmouth can be used to figure out when it's possible to plant snap beans.

Planting Calendar for Snap beans

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

Since snap beans do not do well in cold weather you must wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant snap beans in Portsmouth 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. If you wait any later than that and your snap beans may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your snap beans indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Portsmouth. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Portsmouth 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 Portsmouth you get a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your snap beans if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Portsmouth

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Portsmouth

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