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.

The USDA zone info for South Hill should be looked at to determine when it's possible to plant runner beans.

Planting Calendar for Runner beans

Frost tolerance for runner beans:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

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

The earliest that you can plant runner beans in South Hill 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. Any later than that and your runner beans may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your runner beans indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in South Hill. You should expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for South Hill is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in South Hill it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to protect your runner beans if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for South Hill

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 South Hill

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Hill.