Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Auburn 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 all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably not a good idea to plant gherkins until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Auburn 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. If you wait any later than that and your gherkins may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your gherkins indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Auburn. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Auburn is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Auburn last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your gherkins if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Auburn

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 Auburn

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