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Home > Guides > Herbs > Chives |
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How to Grow Chives | Guide to Growing Chives |
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Overview |
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Great for dressing up potatoes and spicing up salads, this easy-to-grow Allium’s pinkish-lavender flowers make an attractive clump or edging in flower gardens. |
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Low Fert., Damp, Acid, Droughty |
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Growing Guide
GROWING NOTES
While chives will tolerate a wide range of soil conditions, they prefer slightly acid soil (pH 6.2 to 6.8) with moderate fertility and high organic matter.
Chinese and garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) are slightly less hardy, only to Zone 4 without extra winter protection.
Chinese and garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) grow up to 2 feet tall.
The common garden chive has pinkish lavender flowers. The cultivar ‘Forescate’ has rose red flowers. 'Corsica" and 'albiflorum' have white flowers. Chinese and garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) have white flowers.
Spreading clump of upright, grass-like leaves.
MAINTAINING
In spring or fall, direct seed onto well-prepared seedbed (covering very lightly), or transplant established plants. (If starting from seed, plants probably won’t be large enough to harvest for at least a year.)
Regular cutting helps keep plants vigorous and healthy and encourages spreading. Keep flowers picked to discourage dormancy in warm weather.
No fertilizer is needed if planted in reasonably fertile soil. Plants harvested frequently benefit from nitrogen top-dressing.
Divide and replant clump in fresh soil every three to five years.
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Heirloom seeds are the gardeners choice for seed-saving from year-to-year. Learning to save seeds is easy and fun with these books. Before you harvest, consider which varieties you might want to save seeds from so that your harvesting practice includes plants chosen for seed saving. Be sure to check out our newest seed packs, available now from Heirloom Organics. The Super Food Garden is the most nutrient dense garden you can build and everything you need is right here in one pack. The Genesis Garden s a very popular Bible Garden collection. The Three Sisters Garden was the first example of companion planting in Native American culture. See all of our brand-new seed pack offerings in our store.
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Harvesting Guide
HARVESTING
As long as weeds are kept under control, and they are watered when the weather is very dry, chives will continue to grow.
As soon as the leaves have reached several inches in height, you can start removing the needed portions.
Begin by removing the outer-edge leaves and working inward. Cut the leaves with scissors, leaving 1-2 inches above the ground.
Once flowers appear, purple pom pom flowers on onion chives or white flowers on garlic chives, cut the stems back.
To promote new growth, cut back whenever the height exceeds six inches.
SAVING SEEDS
Allow your existing chive plants to blossom and watch for when they start to dry out and lose their color
If the chive plants are in a windy location or in a place they can be bumped, put a bag over the the flower heads and tighten the opening with a string or rubber band. This will catch the seeds so don't fall away.
Allow flower heads to completely dry out.
Cut the flower heads off of the plants and put them in a bag that has extra room in it for the flowers to bounce around in it.
Shake the bag, dislocating all the tiny black seeds out of the flower heads. The seeds will be about the size of a flea, so look for them carefully.
Store the seeds in a cool and dry location, such as a refrigerator drawer.
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| You can find this variety in the following Seed Packs: |
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| Click the packs below to see some of our other wonderful products |
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