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.

You should be able to figure out when it's the best time to plant chinese chives by reviewing the USDA zone info for Salinas.

Planting Calendar for Chinese chives

Frost tolerance for chinese chives:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant chinese chives just a bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant chinese chives in Salinas is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant chinese chives and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your chinese chives may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your chinese chives indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Salinas. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Salinas may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Salinas you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your chinese chives in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Salinas

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Salinas

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