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.

In Pismo Beach 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 the last frost.

You should not plant gherkins until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Pismo Beach is February. However, you really should wait until March 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 really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your gherkins indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on January 31 in Pismo Beach. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Pismo Beach is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Pismo Beach last frost occurs after January 31 be ready to cover your gherkins if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Pismo Beach

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Pismo Beach

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Pismo Beach.