Runner bean · Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
When to plant runner beans in Kinshasa
Main outdoor window
not outdoors here
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
no spring frost
In Kinshasa, on your chosen risk.
First autumn frost
no autumn frost
The far end of the outdoor season.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Kinshasa
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.
Runner beans through the year
Against the frost risk in Kinshasa
Why these dates
Two weeks in pots gives a head start and protects seed from mice. Plant out once the supports are up and frost risk has passed.
Frost kills the vine, but runner beans tolerate cool cloudy weather that would stall a French bean. Flowers drop above 30C.
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. Runner beans are timed from 2 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 1 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Kinshasa.
Also in Kinshasa
Other vegetables to time
Growing runner beans in Kinshasa
How much frost will runner beans tolerate?
Frost kills the vine, but runner beans tolerate cool cloudy weather that would stall a French bean. Flowers drop above 30C.