One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

In Niles you can estimate when it's possible to plant chinese chives 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.

Since chinese chives are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant chinese chives in Niles 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. If you wait any later than that and 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 couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Niles the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Niles may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Niles there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your chinese chives if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Niles

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Niles

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