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.

A common way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant runner beans is to consult the USDA zone info for Germantown.

Planting Calendar for Runner beans

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

Runner beans do not do well in cold weather which means that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant runner beans in Germantown 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. If you wait any later than that and your runner beans may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your runner 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 April 15 in Germantown. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Germantown is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Germantown you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your runner beans in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Germantown

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°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 -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Germantown

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