The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Lafayette should be reffered to in order to figure out when to plant gherkins.

Planting Calendar for Gherkins

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

Since gherkins are not cold tolerant it is important to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Lafayette. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lafayette is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Lafayette last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your gherkins in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lafayette

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 Lafayette

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