One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of getting a good idea when you can plant gherkins is to use the USDA zone info for Opelika.

Planting Calendar for Gherkins

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

Since gherkins require warm weather you really should wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Opelika is April. However, you really should wait until May 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. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your gherkins indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Opelika the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Opelika may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Opelika you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your gherkins in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Opelika

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Opelika

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