Gherkin · Renca, Santiago Metropolitan, Chile
When to plant gherkins in Renca
Main outdoor window
28 Sep - 19 Oct
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
14 September
In Renca, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
29 Dec - 30 Mar
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 Renca
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
17 Aug - 7 Sep
Four weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
28 Sep - 19 Oct
Two weeks after your last frost.
Plant out
28 Sep - 19 Oct
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
29 Dec - 30 Mar
Gherkins through the year
Against the frost risk in Renca
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 Renca.
The median frost-free season here is 265 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 Renca
Other vegetables to time
Growing gherkins in Renca
When should I plant gherkins in Renca?
Aim for 28 Sep - 19 Oct in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 19 Oct - 9 Nov - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will gherkins be ready to harvest in Renca?
Expect to start picking around 29 Dec - 30 Mar, 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.