One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of getting a good idea when it's a good idea to plant chives is to look at the USDA zone info for Mandeville.

Planting Calendar for Chives

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

Since chives are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant chives in Mandeville is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant chives and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your chives may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your chives indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Mandeville. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Mandeville is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Mandeville last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to cover your chives in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mandeville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°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 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Mandeville

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