Sow, plant & harvest chives

Growing chives in the garden is easy and promising. We reveal what you have to consider when sowing chives and how to harvest them correctly.

chives (Allium tuberosum) is the perfect herb for those who don't want to miss the aromatic taste of garlic, but don't like its strong smell. Because chives do not leave a typical garlic smell in the mouth or on the fingers. In addition, the herb is extremely easy to care for and thrives not only in the garden bed, but also in pots on the windowsill or in the balcony box. The plant can be used well in the kitchen and is also beautiful to look at, as it forms fine, white flowers all summer long, which have a delicate scent. In this article we will tell you everything about the origin, correct sowing, care, propagation, harvesting and use of chives.

Chives: origin and properties

Chives are also called garlic chives (garlic), Chinese chives or Chinese leeks and belong to the plant genus of leeks (Allium). Thus it is closely related to chives (Allium schoenoprasum), leek (Allium porrum) or onions(Allium cepa). The aromatic herb probably originally came from China, but it grows wild in most parts of tropical Asia. Nowadays chives are cultivated and highly valued almost all over the world.

In terms of appearance and growth, chives are very similar to chives. The stalks are a bit wider and larger overall. It is a perennial, herbaceous plant that can grow up to 80 centimeters in height. It forms onions-like, small tubers that are white. The culms are flat, 1.5 to 8 millimeters wide and green. The star-shaped, white umbels of flowers bloom from June to September and attract numerous insects.

Varieties of chives

Basically, you can't go wrong when choosing a variety of chives. The varieties differ mainly in the growth height and the thickness of the stalks. A small variety overview gives you an idea of ​​which varieties are worth growing:

• 'Fat Leaf': As the name suggests, the culms are wide and thick
• 'Kiss me': Particularly wide culms
• 'Knolau': Up to 50 centimeters high, fast-growing
• 'Monstrosum': Up to 80 centimeters high
• 'Neko': Forms flat, broad culms with a delicate aroma
• ‘Pink Garlic’: As the name suggests, it has pink flowers and broad, juicy leaves
• 'Sapras': High yielding and aromatic
• 'Shiva': grows up to 30 centimeters high, is very vigorous and productive
• 'Wagner's Kobold': Thin, aromatic culms

Sow chives

Of course, when growing chives, sowing is the first step. In the following sections we will answer when, where and how best to sow chives.

The right location for chives

The herb from China feels right at home both in the garden bed and in the pot. It thrives best in a full sun to sunny location. It is ideal when the plant is in full sun for half the day, but it can also just about cope with partially shaded locations. Chives, on the other hand, do not want to be completely in the shade. The soil should be rich in humus and rich in nutrients. In addition, the tasty herb loves evenly moist soil. However, it does not cope with waterlogging at all.

Where to sow chives?

• Full to sunny location
• Humus and nutrient-rich soil
• Evenly moist
• No waterlogging

Tip: Good planting neighbors for chives are tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum), cucumbers (Cucumis sativus), carrots (Daucus carota subsp. sativus) or strawberries (Fragaria). He gets along less well with legumes such as peas (Pisum sativum) and beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) or with types of cabbage such as white cabbage (Brassica oleracea convar. capitata var. Alba).

How to plant chive garlic seeds

The chives can be sowed either in pots under glass, on the windowsill or later, directly outdoors. The best time to start breeding is from the end of March. You can then plant the young plants in the garden bed from mid-May. Direct sowing in the bed can be done from April to August.

When to sow chives?

• Advance from the end of March
• Plant early plants outdoors from mid-May
• Outdoors from April to August

Growing in seed pots on the windowsill or under glass has the advantage that you can start sowing earlier and thus harvest the first delicious stalks faster. For sowing we recommend our Plantura organic herbal soil, which is perfectly tailored to the requirements of chives and offers the herb the best conditions for ideal growth.

Sowing chives in the pot:

• Sowing soil like that Plantura Organic Herb & Seed Soil
• Fill the seed pot with soil
• Planting distance: 30 x 25 cm
• Cover with 1 cm thick layer of soil
• casting
• Germination time: 14 – 28 days
• Ideal germination temperature: 18 – 20 °C
• Keep evenly moist
• After the seed has sprouted, seperate

When the pre-planted plants are big enough and the planters are fully rooted, it's time to plant the chives. This can be done either in the garden bed or in a pot.

Alternatively, you can sow your chives directly outdoors. To do this, simply follow the instructions below:

• Prepare the bed: loosen the soil well, remove weeds
• Soil with a natural long-acting fertilizer such as ours Plantura organic universal fertilizer, or enrich finished compost
• Create seed furrows
• Sowing depth: 2 cm
• Row spacing: 30 – 40 cm
• Planting distance: 25 cm
• Cover seed with soil
• Water well
• Keep well moist until the seeds sprout

Grow chives

You can easily multiply chives yourself. The simplest and most promising method for this is through division.

Multiplying chives by division at a glance:

• Plants must be at least 3 years old to divide
• In spring or in autumn
• Dig up the chive garlic plant
• Divide the plant into 2 or 3 parts by hand
• Carefully detach parts from each other (if necessary with secateurs or spade)
• planting
• Water well

Maintain chives

Of course, watering and fertilizing are part of the care of chives. The delicious herb likes it evenly moist, which is why you should always check the soil and water it if necessary. It is also important to keep the bed in which the chives are growing free of weeds. This can be achieved by regular weeding or by a mulch layer or undersown. It is best to fertilize with a fertilizer with a natural long-term effect, alternatively also with compost. These two sources of nutrients are sustainable and provide your plant with everything it needs to grow over the long term.

Tip: ours Plantura organic universal fertilizer you only have to apply it twice a year: once in spring shortly after budding and again during the main growth phase, for example in June.

How do I care for chives?

• Keep evenly moist
• Remove weeds by weeding, mulching or undersowing
• Fertilize in spring and June
• Instead, fertilizers with a long-term effect, like ours Plantura organic universal fertilizer, or compost use

Overwinter the chives

Quite a few gardeners are certainly wondering: Is chive garlic hardy? The simple answer to this question is a resounding yes. Chives are perennial. Overwintering chives is therefore not a problem. Temperatures down to minus 20 °C do not bother the herb. In the spring it will sprout again all by itself and you can enjoy the popular kitchen herb for many years.

How do I overwinter chives?

• Chives are perennial
• Hardy down to -20°C

Harvest and preserve chives

A big advantage of chives: they can be used almost all year round.

When and how do I harvest chives?

• Harvest time: spring to autumn
• Chives in a pot on the windowsill can even be harvested all year round
• Use scissors or a sharp knife to harvest
• Cut the stems 2 fingers above the ground
• The flowers of the chive garlic are also edible and can be harvested 

Tip: The more radically you cut back your chives, the stronger they will sprout again afterwards.

Unfortunately, once your chives have been harvested, they will only stay fresh for two to three days. It can be kept in a glass with water or in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator. It is therefore advisable to only harvest as much as can be used fresh. Of course, you also have various options for preserving the herb. For example, you can freeze your chives very easily. Other methods include pickling in salt or in vinegar and oil. Chopped garlic also lasts a long time as a pesto and also tastes great. However, drying chives is not highly recommended. It loses almost all of its flavor as it dries.

Storing and preserving chives at a glance:

• At best, only harvest as much fresh as can be used
• Place fresh straws in a glass of water
• Alternatively, wrap in a damp kitchen towel and store in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator
• Preserve chives by freezing
• Pickle in salt
• As a pesto
• Put in vinegar and oil
• Chives are not suitable for drying

Using chives 

For those who are not yet familiar with the herb, this question may arise: How do I actually use chives? Chopped garlic can be used in many ways in the kitchen: it tastes good in herb quark, in salads, in Soups, for seasoning and refining hearty dishes or as decoration and for serving Food. Or simply try fresh chives on a delicious piece of buttered bread. The small onions can be steamed and used like spring onions. The chive garlic blossoms are also edible. You can enjoy them, for example, as a decoration or in salads. The best thing about chives: unlike real garlic, the herb leaves no odor in your mouth. And finally, the question: is chives healthy? It contains a lot of the substance allicin - as well as in other leek plants. Allicin strengthens the immune system against bacteria and viruses and is also said to help lower blood sugar levels.

For those who prefer real garlic, we have tips and tricks here Cultivation of Garlic ready in your own garden.