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.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Columbia you should be able to determine when you can plant gherkins.

Planting Calendar for Gherkins

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

Since gherkins are not cold tolerant you must wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Columbia 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 really do well. Starting your gherkins indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Columbia. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Columbia is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Columbia there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to protect your gherkins if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Columbia

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Columbia

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