One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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 will be able to determine when it's possible to plant chives by reviewing the USDA zone info for Columbus.

Planting Calendar for Chives

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

Chives do well in cold which tells us that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chives in Columbus 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. Any later than that and your chives may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your chives indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Columbus. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Columbus is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Columbus last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your chives in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Columbus

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 Columbus

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