One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

The USDA zone info for Houston can be reviewed to estimate 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.

You really shouldn't plant gherkins until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Houston 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your gherkins may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your gherkins indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Houston. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Houston is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Houston last frost occurs after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your gherkins in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Houston

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 Houston

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