One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

You can determine when it's a good idea to plant chives in Detroit by checking out 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.

You can plant chives quite a bit earlier in the year because they do well in cold.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Detroit. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Detroit is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Detroit last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your chives if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Detroit

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 Detroit

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