Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when it's possible to plant gherkins is to consult the USDA zone info for Herkimer.

Planting Calendar for Gherkins

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

It's not a good idea to plant gherkins until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Herkimer 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 little bit earlier by starting your gherkins indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Herkimer. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Herkimer is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Herkimer last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your gherkins if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Herkimer

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 Herkimer

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