One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant gherkins is to use the USDA zone info for Shreveport.

Planting Calendar for Gherkins

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

Since gherkins do not do well in cold weather it's necessary to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Shreveport 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 couple of weeks earlier by starting your gherkins indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Shreveport the average date of last frost happens on March 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Shreveport is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Shreveport you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your gherkins if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Shreveport

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Shreveport

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