One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

In Edinburgh you can figure out when it's the best time to plant gherkins by looking at 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 require warm weather you must wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Edinburgh 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. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your gherkins indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Edinburgh. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Edinburgh is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Edinburgh you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your gherkins in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Edinburgh

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 Edinburgh

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