One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 De Soto you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant chives by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Chives

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

Chives can survive in quite a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chives in De Soto 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 really do well. If you are starting your chives indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in De Soto. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for De Soto may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in De Soto last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to protect your chives in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for De Soto

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in De Soto

You may be interested in your other planting guides for De Soto.