One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

One way of estimating when it's the best time to plant gherkins is to examine the USDA zone info for Stone Mountain.

Planting Calendar for Gherkins

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

Since gherkins are not cold tolerant you really should wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Stone Mountain 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your gherkins may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your gherkins indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Stone Mountain the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Stone Mountain and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Stone Mountain you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your gherkins in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Stone Mountain

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Stone Mountain

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Stone Mountain.