One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

In Mill Creek you can estimate when it's the best time to plant runner beans by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Runner beans

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

Since runner beans do not do well in cold weather you really should wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant runner beans in Mill Creek 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 grow to maturity. If you are starting your runner beans indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Mill Creek the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Mill Creek is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Mill Creek you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your runner beans in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mill Creek

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

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

Plants to Grow in Mill Creek

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Mill Creek.