Once your frost date passes, transplant them into the garden in a location with full sun to part sun. The first three recipes below use chive blossoms and leaves, the vinegar only uses the flowers: Your email address will not be published. Bear in mind your chives will be more productive if they aren’t overly crowded below ground. This herb, in the onion family, benefits from an occasional division. Late summer into early fall is the perfect time to divide and pot up chives to grow on a sunny windowsill indoors for fresh harvests all winter. How To Get Healthy? Some gardeners use onion and garlic chives as a perennial edging or … Keep plants well watered, especially during long dry spells in summer. Some gardeners use the singular form of the word, “chive”, and others prefer using “chives” for both singular and plural applications. I believe ANYONE can make delicious meals from scratch if they have the desire and a bit of confidence. Divisions can be replanted. Chives can grow in a pot as small as 4″ across, and doesn’t mind being potbound for some time. This allows time for the plant to become established in the container and adjust gradually to the lower light levels inside the house before winter. Here's how I did it this spring. Vegetable Korma with Coconut, Cashew, Yogurt Sauce, Roasted Shishito Peppers with Honey and Smoked Sea Salt, Roasted Eggplant Dip with Yogurt, Walnuts and Mint. Chives need dividing every two to three years to stop the plants from overcrowding each other, which will result in weak and thin growth. Nationally, I work as a recipe developer and menu planner, and I do product testing and reviews. Different varieties of chives have similar flavor, but some have finer foliage than others. Chives are incredibly easy to maintain. Start With More Greens! Step 1. I LOVE food and organic gardening, and I'm passionate about cooking with fresh fruit, vegetables, herbs and edible flowers. Your choice. Cut off all the foliage, down to about 1/2″ from the soil surface. You can also direct sow the seeds in the Spring once soil temps reach 60-70 degrees. The plant in the photos has been growing in a 6 1/2″ clay azalea pot (shorter than wide–about 5″ tall). Enjoy! Like chives, garlic chives … One year, the chives will look fine, and the next year it might fail to emerge. They deteriorate quickly, but can be stored in the fridge for 1-2 days. To see this page as it is meant to appear, please enable your Javascript! By dividing the clump every 2 or 3 years, the younger and more vigorous bulbs will have a chance to grow. Dividing for Healthy Growth. Chives are such hardy, friendly little plants that they are often grown as companion plants for other garden vegetables, herbs, and fruits. Why Divide Chives? Onion chives are one of my Spring favorites; the leaves and blossoms are among the first edible perennials to grace our kitchen garden each Spring. This activity usually happens in late winter or early spring. Chive Problems. Abundant sunshine allows optimal photosynthesis and keeps the plant growing strong. It’s very pretty in bloom, with pinkish purple flowers on sturdy stalks. But water will drain freely. Place chopped chives in ice cube trays and fill with just enough water to cover them. To avoid overcrowding, divide up large clumps of chives every two to three years, separating the plant into clumps of two to three bulbs. If you want, you could cut smaller divisions for more plants. To see this page as it is meant to appear, please enable your Javascript! Dividing chives works best in either the early fall, or early spring. Seed may be slow to germinate and take 4-6 weeks to produce transplants. Rejuvenate congested clumps in the ground by lifting and dividing plants every three years or so. You simply dig up the entire clump of chives in early spring, chop it into two or three pieces with a shovel and replant each one separately. To save the seeds, put the blossoms upside-down in a paper bag and shake them loose. Place the plant close to a light source to supplement the natural light it gets, but not so close it can feel the heat. Just dig out a section of the plant and put in a new location. There are few plants that are easier to manage than chives. Chives form grass-like clumps that grow wider and tighter as time passes, so it is good to divide them every few years (or as needed). Chives also produce a pretty pink flower but by that time the stems are too tough to use for cooking. Those old bulbs might already have decomposed, and you won’t see them in the soil. As for the terms “species” and “impatiens”, I add the “s” at the end. Dig up the plants in early spring and cut them apart with a shovel. Replanting in a dirty pot will make the next plant more difficult to remove. Divide older clumps in early spring every 3 years. Add some potting soil to the pot, and hollow out a depression for the fresh division. Plan to divide them every three to four years. Hello! Potted chives are less winter hardy, by one or two zones, than those grown in the ground. Start them indoors 6-8 weeks before last frost by planting 1/4 deep in seed starting mix. Chives are perennial plants, so they will die back in winter and regrow in spring. It depends on the size of the plant and the project. Many plants benefit from being split in the Spring, but chives thrive when divided in the Fall. To keep plantings vigorous and from becoming overcrowded, divide p… Ron Finley. And remove that center part if there are no bulbs there. That would be another good time to divide the plant. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. JENNY’S TIP FOR BUYING GARLIC CHIVES Choose fresh, crisp chives that are not wilted. After three or four years, divide your plants. Here in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States (Zone 7b), we have four distinct seasons of weather, and each offers a wealth of culinary options. It grows on the protected sunny deck, surrounded by walls and a fence. Chives growing in the ground can also become congested. Replant divisions 8 to 12 inches apart. Dig up an established (4+ years old) clump in spring or autumn. Garlic chives grows in zones 4 through 9, and has pretty white flowers later in the season. Required fields are marked *. Clipped fresh chives is very nice on a chilly day with a baked potato, melted cheese or sour cream, crumbled bacon, topped with barely cooked broccoli… and butter…. Remember to divide the plants every 3 to 4 years in the spring. You’ll have longer leaves to snip from rejuvenated plants within two weeks, depending on weather. The Spruce / Steven Merkel This will make the plants more productive and the chives more tender. You can divide the plant into several pieces, aim for around 7 – 10 shoots per division. Water the plant, and place the pot in the sun. To jump ahead a season, chive starts are widely available, or if you know someone who grows chives you may score freebie plants via division (see below). There are two ways to propagate your chives: dividing and seed sowing. Please note that due to the global coronavirus pandemic, all classes are canceled until further notice. Companion Plants for Chives. Over time, chive plantings become thick, tangled and unproductive. Wasn’t that easy? Lift the clump with a fork and shake off as much soil as possible. Online classes taught by the world’s greatest minds. Trim the chives, leaving around 3″ of leaves on the plant. Identify the places where natural divisions can be separated. Dividing plants every two to four years further promotes growth. Already, a day after cutting back this plant, it has grown 1/3″ (photo at the end). 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