One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

In Carlisle you can figure out when it's a good idea 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.

Chives do ok in a bit of cold which tells us that 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 Carlisle 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 really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your chives indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Carlisle the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Carlisle and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Carlisle you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your chives in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Carlisle

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Carlisle

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