Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when you can plant gherkins is to refer to the USDA zone info for Capitola.

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 need to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

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

The last month that you can plant gherkins and expect a good harvest is probably September. 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

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Capitola. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Capitola is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Capitola it frosts late in the year after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your gherkins in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Capitola

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Capitola

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