Chives are probably one of the easiest herbs you can grow in your garden. It is a low-maintenance, low-cost perennial (it will last you for years). As a staple for any home cook, chives add fresh onion flavor to soups, salads, egg dishes, sandwiches, and many more meals.
Even if you completely neglect your chives, they will likely still come back year after year. This makes them the ideal 'starter' plant for anyone wanting to start their first small herb garden or aspiring to become a gardener.
This post contains affiliate links for which we may be compensated if a purchase is made through the links provided at no extra cost to you. For more information, please read our affiliate disclosure.
Table of Contents
Planting Chives For Your Garden
Chives are easily started from seed indoors or direct sown in the garden once the soil can be worked.
TIP: If you have a friend or neighbour that grows chives, ask if you can split their plant and dig up half of it. Chives need to be split every few years to stay productive and avoid excessive spreading. Splitting is an easy way to plant an already established chive plant.
Locate the chives in a spot that receives at least 4 to 6 hours of sunlight a day. Partial sunlight is ok, but the more sunlight the chives receive, the faster they will grow. They will also bloom more vigorously with more sun exposure.
Pick a spot that's well-draining and not too rocky. I have my chives planted at the corners of my vegetable garden, as well as randomly throughout my flower beds!
You'll want to grow the chives in a fairly rich and well-draining soil. Make sure to mix in some compost or a bit of granular fertilizer to help the roots establish quickly. They prefer a pH of 6 to 7.
Starting Chives From Seed
You can start chives from seed indoors or sow the seeds directly in the garden. You can purchase chive seeds on Amazon.
Chive seeds usually take 5 to 6 days to sprout, and will look like small green spikes. At first, chive seedlings look quite sparse, and you may wonder how you will ever harvest a decent amount. If provided with plenty of sunlight, though, they will quickly flourish and fill into a bushy plant.
If you started chive seeds in pots, wait for the plant to fill out a little (about four weeks) before transplanting into the garden. At this early stage, the individual roots are still fairly delicate and need a chance to establish before being moved.
Splitting and Transplanting a Mature Chive Plant
An easier route than starting chives from seed is to split and transplant a mature chive plant into your garden.
Large chive plants are actually a collection of small chive bulbs and need to be split every few years to encourage new growth. This also makes room for new 'shoots' to grow and will encourage faster growth.
Knowing When To Split Chives
- Very large and mature chive plants often have dead, grassy-looking clumps, which is a good sign the plant needs to be split.
- Mature chive plants are generally 10-12 inches (25-30 cm) tall and have a spread of 12 inches (30 cm). Anything larger should be split and replanted.
Once you've identified that your choice plant needs to be split, follow these simple steps.
- With a spade, 'cut' the plant in half and dig it out, leaving as much of the root ball intact as possible.
- Fill in the 'hole' you made with garden soil. The half of the chive plant still in the ground will quickly regrow and fill in this space.
- The split half you removed can now be broken into several smaller clusters and either re-potted into pots or moved to other sections of your garden (or a neighbor's garden).
It's best to split and re-plant chives in late Summer / early Fall as dividing the plant can temporarily stunt its quick-growing habit, and result in a smaller harvest.
If split in the early Fall, the plant will quickly spurt new shoots. Try not to harvest these new shoots, as it gives the chives a chance to re-establish before winter and ensures plenty of fresh chives come spring.
Caring For & Harvesting Chives Throughout The Year
Spring
- Springtime is the best time to start chive seeds indoors. Start the seeds 4 weeks before the last frost to give them a head start before setting them into the garden.
- Chives grow fairly quickly as long as they are given plenty of light (either artificial or natural) and will do well even if kept indoors in pots. Wait for them to reach six inches before transplanting and harvesting.
Summer
- In summer, it's important to keep your chives watered as the Summer heat can easily dry them out. The easiest way to provide constant moisture is to mulch around the base of the chives to reduce evaporation from the soil. This also reduces weeds.
- Chives start to flower in late Spring/early Summer, and the blossoms are edible if you choose to pick the flower heads. They make a great addition to salad, flavored oils, and vinegars.
- You can leave a few chive blossoms on the plant and let them mature to harvest your own seeds. The flower head will eventually dry out, and you'll see little black seeds which can be shaken into a baggy and stored.
Fall & Winter
- Chives don't require any special care in the Fall or Winter. While chives are somewhat cold-tolerant, they will become dormant and die back after the first hard frost of the year.
- The plant will look pretty miserable, but fear not, the bulbs are well protected underground. Chives are hardy in zones 3-9, and can withstand a cold winter quite well. Chives will start to poke through the soil again in Spring once temperatures warm up, and they are usually one of the first signs of life in the Spring garden.
Harvesting Fresh Chives
Harvest chives semi-regularly to encourage new growth. If growing chives in a windowsill herb garden, let the chives grow to at least six inches before harvesting, and take no more than one-third of the plant.
When harvesting chives, select a clump from the outside of the plant and cut the chives with a sharp knife or shears, to within one inch from the base. Bunch the chives together and store them in the fridge wrapped in a paper towel to prevent them from drying out.
Chives may be dried, but loose their fresh flavor. They are best used fresh or preserved in oil.
Interested In Growing More Herbs Yourself?
Comment below if you have or are thinking about growing fresh chives in your garden! If you do, take a picture and tag me on Facebook & Instagram: @earthfoodandfire .
Comments
No Comments