One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to determine when it's a good idea to plant chives by looking at the USDA zone info for Escanaba.

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 very cold tolerant 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 Escanaba 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. If you wait any later than that and 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

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Escanaba. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Escanaba is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Escanaba last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your chives in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Escanaba

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°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 -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Escanaba

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