When to Plant Chives in Onalaska, WI

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Onalaska you can determine when it's possible to plant chives by referring to 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 well in cold which tells us that you can get them planted much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant chives
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant chives
Probably not a good time to plant chives

The earliest that you can plant chives in Onalaska 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your chives may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your chives indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Onalaska the average date of last frost happens on May 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

It's important 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 Onalaska and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Onalaska there is a last frost after May 15 be ready to protect your chives in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Onalaska

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)September 15
Lowest Expected Low-25°F
Highest Expected Low-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Onalaska

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