One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

The first opportunity to plant chinese chives in Amherst should be estimated by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Chinese chives

Frost tolerance for chinese chives:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Chinese chives are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chinese chives in Amherst 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 chinese chives and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your chinese chives may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your chinese chives indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Amherst. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Amherst is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Amherst last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your chinese chives if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Amherst

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Amherst

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