One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

In Zion you can determine when it's the best time to plant gherkins by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Gherkins

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

You can not plant gherkins until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Zion 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 grow to maturity. Starting your gherkins indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Zion is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Zion you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your gherkins in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zion

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 Zion

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