One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

The USDA zone info for Clearwater should be reviewed to figure out when to plant chives.

Planting Calendar for Chives

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

Chives are very cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chives in Clearwater 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 chives and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your chives may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your chives indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Clearwater. You can expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Clearwater is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Clearwater you get surprised by a frost after January 31 so be sure to be ready to cover your chives in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Clearwater

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Clearwater

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