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.

A way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant gherkins is to consult the USDA zone info for Effingham.

Planting Calendar for Gherkins

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

Since gherkins require warm weather you must wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Effingham 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your gherkins indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Effingham. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Effingham may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Effingham there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your gherkins if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Effingham

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Effingham

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