One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 Waunakee you can determine when it's a good idea 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 the last frost has passed.

It's probably not a good idea to plant runner beans until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant runner beans in Waunakee 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 really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your runner beans indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Waunakee the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Waunakee may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Waunakee there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your runner beans in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Waunakee

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 Waunakee

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