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.

A common way of figuring out when to plant chives is to use the USDA zone info for Lowell.

Planting Calendar for Chives

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

Chives tend to make it in pretty solid cold which tells us that you can plant them much earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chives in Lowell 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your chives indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Lowell and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Lowell it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your chives if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lowell

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Lowell

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