Green bean · Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

When to plant green beans in Nanjing

Main outdoor window

21 Mar - 4 Apr

The window this page is built around.

Timed from last spring frost

14 March

In Nanjing, on your chosen risk.

Ready to pick

10-20 May

If you plant at the start of the window.

The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.

Cautious Balanced Bold

Step by step in Nanjing

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

21 Mar - 4 Apr

One week after your last frost.

Harvest

10-20 May

Sow in succession. A single sowing gives you a single glut. Sow a short row every 14 days through the window above and you get a steady supply instead.

Frost tolerance

Tender

Damaged below

0°C (32°F)

Days to maturity

50–60

Min soil temp

15°C (59°F)

Spacing

15 cm

Sowing depth

30 mm (1.2 in)

Sun

Full

Green beans through the year

Against the frost risk in Nanjing

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Green beans

Frost risk Sow direct Harvest Today

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 Nanjing.

The median frost-free season here is 258 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.

See every crop timed for Nanjing →

Nearby

Green beans in places close by

Zhenjiang 66 km Yangzhou 72 km Wuhu 85 km Changzhou 116 km Taizhou 116 km Yixing 126 km

Also in Nanjing

Other vegetables to time

Tomatoes tender Lettuce half hardy Potatoes half hardy Courgettes tender Sweet peppers tender Carrots hardy Cucumbers tender Peas hardy Garlic very hardy Chilli peppers tender Sweetcorn tender

Growing green beans in Nanjing

When should I plant green beans in Nanjing?

Aim for 21 Mar - 4 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 2-16 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.

When will green beans be ready to harvest in Nanjing?

Expect to start picking around 10-20 May, 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.