Lima bean · Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
When to plant lima beans in Edmonton
Main outdoor window
27 May - 17 Jun
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
13 May
In Edmonton, 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 Edmonton
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
27 May - 17 Jun
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 Aug - 31 Oct
Lima beans through the year
Against the frost risk in Edmonton
Why these dates
Sow two weeks after the last frost into soil at 18C or warmer. Sowing into cold soil is the single commonest cause of failure with this crop.
Killed at 0C. Flowers drop rather than set if nights stay above 25C, so extreme heat is as much a problem as cold.
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. Lima beans are timed for direct sowing 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Edmonton.
The median frost-free season here is 137 days, against 75 to 95 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Edmonton
Other vegetables to time
Growing lima beans in Edmonton
When should I plant lima beans in Edmonton?
Aim for 27 May - 17 Jun in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 5-26 Jun - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will lima beans be ready to harvest in Edmonton?
Expect to start picking around 1 Aug - 31 Oct, based on 75 to 95 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will lima beans tolerate?
Killed at 0C. Flowers drop rather than set if nights stay above 25C, so extreme heat is as much a problem as cold.