One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

A way of getting a good idea when it's the best time to plant chives is to examine the USDA zone info for Big Bear Lake.

Planting Calendar for Chives

Frost tolerance for chives:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since chives do well in cold you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant chives in Big Bear Lake is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant chives and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your chives may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your chives indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Big Bear Lake. You should expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Big Bear Lake and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Big Bear Lake you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your chives if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Big Bear Lake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Big Bear Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Big Bear Lake.