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.

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

Planting Calendar for Gherkins

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

Gherkins require warm weather which means that it is necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Franklin 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 fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your gherkins indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Franklin. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Franklin is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Franklin it frosts late in the year 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 Franklin

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Franklin

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