One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

In Oxford you can figure out when to plant gherkins by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Gherkins

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant gherkins until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Oxford 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. Any later than that and your gherkins may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your gherkins indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Oxford. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Oxford may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Oxford you get a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your gherkins if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Oxford

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 Oxford

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