Runner bean · Norfolk, Virginia, United States
When to plant runner beans in Norfolk
Main outdoor window
17-31 Mar
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
10 March
In Norfolk, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
16 May - 5 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 Norfolk
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.
Start indoors
24 Feb - 10 Mar
Two weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
17-31 Mar
One week after your last frost.
Plant out
17-31 Mar
One week after your last frost.
Harvest
16 May - 5 Jun
Runner beans through the year
Against the frost risk in Norfolk
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 Norfolk.
The median frost-free season here is 272 days, against 60 to 80 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Norfolk
Other vegetables to time
Growing runner beans in Norfolk
When should I plant runner beans in Norfolk?
Aim for 17-31 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 4-18 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will runner beans be ready to harvest in Norfolk?
Expect to start picking around 16 May - 5 Jun, based on 60 to 80 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
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.