When to Plant Gherkins in Peru, IL

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.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for Peru it's possible to estimate when to plant gherkins.


Planting Calendar for Gherkins

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

Since gherkins are not cold tolerant you really should wait until after the last frost has passed 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 Peru 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 little bit earlier by starting your gherkins indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Peru may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Peru it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your gherkins in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Peru

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 Peru

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