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

A common way of figuring out when you can plant gherkins is to refer to the USDA zone info for Grand Ledge.

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 you must wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Grand Ledge 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your gherkins indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Grand Ledge the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Grand Ledge is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Grand Ledge you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your gherkins if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Grand Ledge

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 Grand Ledge

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Grand Ledge.