When to Plant Gherkins in Benton, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Benton you can determine when to plant gherkins by using the USDA zone info.


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 really should wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant gherkins
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant gherkins
Probably not a good time to plant gherkins

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Benton 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. If you wait any later than that and your gherkins may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your gherkins indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Benton. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Benton is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Benton there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your gherkins in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Benton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-5°F
Highest Expected Low0°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 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Benton

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