Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant chives by using the USDA zone info for Vail.

Planting Calendar for Chives

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

Chives can survive in pretty solid cold which tells us that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The last month that you can plant chives and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your chives may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your chives indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Vail the average date of last frost happens on May 15. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Vail is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Vail you get surprised by a frost after May 15 be ready to protect your chives in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Vail

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°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 -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Vail

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