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.

The USDA zone info for Big Spring should be looked at to figure out when it's the best time to plant chives.

Planting Calendar for Chives

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

Since chives are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chives in Big Spring 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 fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your chives indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Big Spring and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Big Spring you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your chives in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Big Spring

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Big Spring

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Big Spring.