Green bean · Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany
When to plant green beans in Frankfurt am Main
Main outdoor window
24 Apr - 8 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
17 April
In Frankfurt am Main, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
13-23 Jun
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Frankfurt am Main
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Sow direct
24 Apr - 8 May
One week after your last frost.
Harvest
13-23 Jun
Green beans through the year
Against the frost risk in Frankfurt am Main
Why these dates
Sow a short row every two weeks from one week after last frost until ten weeks before first frost. Beans crop heavily for a fortnight then decline, so succession matters more than quantity.
Beans are killed by the lightest frost at any stage. They also germinate poorly below 15C, so patience in spring pays.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Green beans are timed for direct sowing 1 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Frankfurt am Main.
The median frost-free season here is 204 days, against 50 to 60 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Frankfurt am Main
Other vegetables to time
Growing green beans in Frankfurt am Main
When should I plant green beans in Frankfurt am Main?
Aim for 24 Apr - 8 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 3-17 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will green beans be ready to harvest in Frankfurt am Main?
Expect to start picking around 13-23 Jun, based on 50 to 60 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will green beans tolerate?
Beans are killed by the lightest frost at any stage. They also germinate poorly below 15C, so patience in spring pays.