When to Plant Chinese chives in San Jose, CA

One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can figure out when it's a good idea to plant chinese chives in San Jose by reviewing the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Chinese chives

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

Chinese chives are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant chinese chives
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant chinese chives
Probably not a good time to plant chinese chives

The earliest that you can plant chinese chives in San Jose 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 really do well. Starting your chinese chives indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in San Jose. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for San Jose may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in San Jose it frosts late in the year after February 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your chinese chives if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for San Jose

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 Low25°F
Highest Expected Low30°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 San Jose

You may be interested in your other planting guides for San Jose.