One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

A common way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant gherkins is to examine the USDA zone info for Fort Mill.

Planting Calendar for Gherkins

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

You should not plant gherkins until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Fort Mill 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your gherkins may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your gherkins indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Fort Mill. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Fort Mill may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Fort Mill you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your gherkins in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Mill

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 Fort Mill

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fort Mill.