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.

A way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant chives is to refer to the USDA zone info for Miles City.

Planting Calendar for Chives

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

Chives tend to make it in pretty solid cold which tells us that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant chives in Miles City 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 grow to maturity. Starting your chives indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on May 15 in Miles City. You can expect an average low temperature of -30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Miles City may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Miles City it frosts late in the year after May 15 so always be ready to protect your chives in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Miles City

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 Miles City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Miles City.