One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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 Waukee can be read to estimate when it's the best time 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 other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant chives in Waukee 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 chives and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your chives may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your chives indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Waukee. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Waukee is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Waukee last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your chives if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Waukee

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 Waukee

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