Chives

[tomatoaddict]

I want to grow chives next year and know nothing about them.
Any advice or info would be appreciated.
Thanks

[shelleybean]

Chives are just about the easiest thing to grow. I have not started them from seed but the little plants are easy to find at the nursery. You can grow them in a pot or in the ground. They don't need much care. After cutting, they grow back very quickly. Every few years, they should be dug up and divided. My mom has had the same chive plant for at least 15 years. She and I both grow in large pots.

[neoguy]

I agree with Shelleybean, very easy to grow. I have started from seeds, I planted them densely, probably 50-60 seeds in a 2"-4" diameter. They probably won't flower the first year, but, they will each year thereafter.

Obviously, you mostly want to harvest the greens, but, we make the best chive vinegar from the flowers. As the flower blossom just begin to crack open in late spring we harvest them and put them into jars of vinegar. 2-3 weeks later you have a beautiful, pinkish purple chive tasting vinegar. Great in salads or even many marinades.

If you don't harvest the flowers the plants will simply reseed themselves and get thicker and bushier.

By the way, garlic chives have flat leaves, like garlic plants, and give you white flowers that flower in the fall. We grow the onion chives.

[jungseed]

Chives will grow anywhere. I have them in Canada, zone 2b. They are planted on the northwest corner of the lodge, they are way too close to the building and don't get much sun or rain. I have them here is Wisconsin in zone 4b/5a sitting in full sun. Either place they grow very well and are no trouble. But they sure are nice when you can walk out the kitchen door and snip some for use in your meal.

[tomatoaddict]

Is it possible to throw down seed now and have it sprout in the spring?

[jungseed]

I asked our seed specialist this question. She said she has never tried it but would not recommend it. She thinks you'd have better luck in the spring when you can control the germination environment. She was kinda worried about migrating birds, late heavy fall thunderstorms, early wet snow melting (seed runnoff) ect...
She did say that the winter shouldn't hurt the seeds in a zone 5 area. If you do decide to try it she'd like to know how you feel the germination went, and if the chives start to flower way too early next year.

[Zana]

I've got tons of garlic chives. They've been scattering seed for the past 8 weeks, and I appear to have new growth coming up, or at least I did until this past weekend. They're hardy as heck and hard to kill off, so choose carefully where you want them.

The upside is that the blossoms attract allot of bees to your garden. Any of my tomatoes near or surrounded by the garlic chive blossoms were loaded with fruit. Between the garlic chives and the marigolds, I didn't have a sign of aphids or other insects munching on probably 90% of my plants. The only ones that were under attack weren't near either the chives or the marigolds.

[tomatoaddict]

Welcome back Zana

[Zana]

Thanks Tomatoaddict!

[Earl]

I grow both common and Chinese garlic chives. I've read that if you cut off the flower stems early the bulbs will divide. I'll have to give the flower vinegar a try.

[Zana]

Earl,
I cut off my garlic chives blossoms about the first week of July or so....before they go to seed. Then I usually get another full set of blossoms before the fall. And, yeah, they divide and conquer alright....hard to get rid of them, if you're a mind to do so.

Once it stops SNOWING I'm going out and spraying about half of what I've got out there to kill them off before winter. They're growing up in cracks all over the map.....which happens to be cracks in the concrete patio...or between slabs....or around the perimeters....or between the edge of the pool and the concrete patio....you get the idea. I'd be buried in them if I didn't kill some off.....but I'll have to be ruthless for next year, as my Dad wants to sell the house, and I don't think having all the bees buzzing around the patio will be a selling feature.

I can vouch for the flower vinegar. I've also made it with just the garlic vinegar stems or flowerbuds (scapes?). Yummmmmmm.

[neoguy]

Earl, the vinegar is a must try. We throw about 30 flower blossoms into a quart mason jar and let them steep for several weeks. Pick the blossoms just as they begin to open. After steeping for a while remove the blossoms from the vinegar. We usually make 2 quarts. The vinegar should be used within 6 months, maybe 8, or it starts to lose its color, looks kind of nasty.

We also make rosemary and thyme vinegar the same way.

[korney19]

Originally Posted by tomatoaddict

Is it possible to throw down seed now and have it sprout in the spring?

No, but next time you're up this way you can come dig some up!