One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

In Sun Prairie you can estimate when it's a good idea to plant gherkins by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Gherkins

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

You should not plant gherkins until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant gherkins in Sun Prairie 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. If you wait any later than that and your gherkins may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your gherkins indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Sun Prairie. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Sun Prairie is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Sun Prairie you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your gherkins in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sun Prairie

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°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 -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Sun Prairie

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Sun Prairie.