One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

The USDA zone info for Valdese should be used to determine 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.

Gherkins are not cold tolerant which tells us that you have to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Valdese 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 couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Valdese the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Valdese is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Valdese it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your gherkins if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Valdese

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Valdese

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