Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden 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 a good idea to plant gherkins is to refer to the USDA zone info for Sweetwater.

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 need to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Sweetwater 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your gherkins indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Sweetwater. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Sweetwater is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Sweetwater last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your gherkins in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sweetwater

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Sweetwater

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