Gherkin · Zhu Cheng City, Shandong, China
When to plant gherkins in Zhu Cheng City
Main outdoor window
14 Apr - 5 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
31 March
In Zhu Cheng City, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Jul - 30 Sep
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Zhu Cheng City
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Start indoors
3-24 Mar
Four weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
14 Apr - 5 May
Two weeks after your last frost.
Plant out
14 Apr - 5 May
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 Jul - 30 Sep
Gherkins through the year
Against the frost risk in Zhu Cheng City
Why these dates
Start indoors four weeks before the last frost or sow direct two weeks after it. Pick every other day from the moment the first fruit reaches finger length.
Killed at 0C. Cold soil at sowing rots the seed before it germinates, so wait for 15C rather than for the frost date alone.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Gherkins are timed from 4 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Zhu Cheng City.
The median frost-free season here is 226 days, against 50 to 65 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Zhu Cheng City
Other vegetables to time
Growing gherkins in Zhu Cheng City
When should I plant gherkins in Zhu Cheng City?
Aim for 14 Apr - 5 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 25 Apr - 16 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will gherkins be ready to harvest in Zhu Cheng City?
Expect to start picking around 1 Jul - 30 Sep, based on 50 to 65 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will gherkins tolerate?
Killed at 0C. Cold soil at sowing rots the seed before it germinates, so wait for 15C rather than for the frost date alone.