The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Fairbanks you can determine when you can plant gherkins by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Gherkins

Frost tolerance for gherkins:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Since gherkins do not do well in cold weather you really should wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Fairbanks is May. However, you really should wait until June if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant gherkins and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your gherkins may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your gherkins indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on May 15 in Fairbanks. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -50°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Fairbanks and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Fairbanks you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your gherkins if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fairbanks

Here is the info for USDA Zone 2a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	August 15
Lowest Expected Low	-50°F
Highest Expected Low	-45°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -50°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -45°F.

Plants to Grow in Fairbanks

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fairbanks.