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.

It's possible to figure out when it's a good idea to plant gherkins by looking at the USDA zone info for Margate.

Planting Calendar for Gherkins

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

You really shouldn't plant gherkins until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Margate 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 fully mature. If you are starting your gherkins indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Margate the average date of last frost happens on January 31. It might get as low as 35°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Margate is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Margate you get a frost after January 31 be ready to cover your gherkins in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Margate

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in Margate

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