Borlotti bean · Manhattan, New York, United States
When to plant borlotti beans in Manhattan
Main outdoor window
29 Apr - 20 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
15 April
In Manhattan, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Aug - 31 Oct
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 Manhattan
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
29 Apr - 20 May
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 Aug - 31 Oct
Borlotti beans through the year
Against the frost risk in Manhattan
Why these dates
Sow two weeks after the last frost. For drying, count back at least a hundred frost-free days; for fresh shelling, twenty fewer will do.
Killed at 0C. Pods left to dry need a spell of dry weather before the first frost, which is the usual limit on growing them in a damp climate.
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. Borlotti beans are timed for direct sowing 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Manhattan.
The median frost-free season here is 203 days, against 80 to 100 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Manhattan
Other vegetables to time
Growing borlotti beans in Manhattan
When should I plant borlotti beans in Manhattan?
Aim for 29 Apr - 20 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 8-29 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will borlotti beans be ready to harvest in Manhattan?
Expect to start picking around 1 Aug - 31 Oct, based on 80 to 100 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will borlotti beans tolerate?
Killed at 0C. Pods left to dry need a spell of dry weather before the first frost, which is the usual limit on growing them in a damp climate.