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.

You will be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant chinese chives by checking out the USDA zone info for Manchester.

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 do well in a little bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chinese chives in Manchester 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 chinese chives and expect a good harvest is probably September. 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 April 15 in Manchester. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Manchester is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Manchester there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your chinese chives if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Manchester

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Manchester

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