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.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Dayton it's a good idea to estimate when it's a good idea to plant gherkins.

Planting Calendar for Gherkins

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

It's a bad idea to plant gherkins until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Dayton is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant gherkins and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your gherkins may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your gherkins indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Dayton. You can expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Dayton is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Dayton last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to protect your gherkins if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Dayton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Dayton

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