One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant gherkins is to refer to the USDA zone info for Hudson.

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 do not do well in cold weather it is necessary to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Hudson 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 fully mature. Starting your gherkins indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Hudson. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Hudson is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Hudson it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your gherkins in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hudson

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 Hudson

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