One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant gherkins in Lake Zurich should be determined by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Gherkins

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant gherkins until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Lake Zurich 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. Any later than that and your gherkins may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your gherkins indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Lake Zurich. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lake Zurich is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Lake Zurich last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to cover your gherkins if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Zurich

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Lake Zurich

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lake Zurich.