Chives · Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China
When to plant chives in Zhenjiang
Main outdoor window
19 Feb - 12 Mar
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
19 March
In Zhenjiang, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
20 Apr - 20 May
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Zhenjiang
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Start indoors
22 Jan - 12 Feb
Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
19 Feb - 12 Mar
Four weeks before your last frost.
Plant
19 Feb - 12 Mar
Four weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
20 Apr - 20 May
Chives through the year
Against the frost risk in Zhenjiang
Why these dates
Sow once and divide every third year. First-year plants are thin; the crop is properly established in year two.
Fully dormant-hardy to -25C. Emerges as soon as soil temperature passes about 5C, often weeks before the last frost.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Chives are timed from 8 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 4 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Zhenjiang.
Growing chives in Zhenjiang
When should I plant chives in Zhenjiang?
Aim for 19 Feb - 12 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 2-23 Mar - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will chives be ready to harvest in Zhenjiang?
Expect to start picking around 20 Apr - 20 May, based on 60 to 90 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will chives tolerate?
Fully dormant-hardy to -25C. Emerges as soon as soil temperature passes about 5C, often weeks before the last frost.