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 Duluth you can figure out when it's possible to plant chives by using 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.

Since chives do well in cold you can plant them earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The last month that you can plant chives and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your chives may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your chives indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on May 15 in Duluth. You should expect an average low temperature of -30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Duluth is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Duluth last frost occurs after May 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your chives in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Duluth

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Duluth

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