Grow Chives as a Mainstay for Your Kitchen Herb Garden

When I was a child, our back porch was right off the kitchen, and on either side of the short flight of stairs leading to the back door there were small garden plots. I don't recall what was growing in those plots except for a big clump of chives. I remember years of snipping the green shoots in the morning to bring them into the kitchen for one of my favorites - chopped onion chives on scrambled eggs.

That's still one of my favorite ways to enjoy onion chives. Of course, I also love baked potatoes topped with butter, sour cream, bacon and chives. And since I have a great big clump of onion chives and another of garlic chives growing in my garden, I use both in my kitchen a lot now - almost daily during the summer in fresh green salads, pasta salads, and stir-fries, and because they are prolific and preserve so well, I have a supply for winter cooking when they can flavor all kinds of soups, stews, and sauces.

Chives are easy to grow from seed, so it's an inexpensive plant to start. You can also purchase chives as plants from your local nursery in the spring. I've started chive clumps in my garden from seed and from bought plants with equal success in two different large gardens over the years.

Garlic Chives from Seed
First of all, garlic chives in America are also called Chinese chives. In Asian countries, where they are used profusely, they are known by lots of other names as well. Suffice it to say that garlic chives look like onion chives, but really do have a strong garlic flavor!

I started my current clump of garlic chives by just sprinkling part of a packet of seeds in a two-foot square of well-tilled earth in a section of my garden where I also grow onion chives, marjoram, oregano, tarragon, lavender, sage, and dill.

I covered the seeds very lightly with earth, using only about a quarter of an inch or less - just sufficient weight so they wouldn't blow away or wash away when I watered the garden.

I must tell you, this packet of garlic chive seeds was several years old and left over from a former garden. I didn't expect much to happen when I put the seeds in the ground, but to my surprise, the garlic chives came up strong and have returned every year. So if you don't use all the seeds the first year, keep them in the packet in a dark place (mine were in a black plastic box) and out of heat and sunlight, and they may sprout for you at another location if you ever move and need to start a new garden.

My garlic chives clump has been productive for about five years, but it does not all regenerate from the former plant each year in the same spot, but rather from seeds that drop from the flowers as the clump matures during the summer.

Hundreds of the tiny black seeds form in the flower blossoms and drop in the general area of the clump. Many of them sprout in the spring. You may have to thin or transplant them because they can sprout where you don't want them growing.

Once you've got your garlic chives established, don't start any vigorous weeding in your herb plot in early spring - you will be surprised where they come up and you don't want to destroy the seedlings. One year, just by tasting, I figured out that the majority of the garlic chives were coming up in back of the oregano instead of the corner where the clump was the previous summer. I transplanted the seedlings to their 'proper' place and they survived!

Planting Onion Chives
I've started onion chives from seed before, just by sprinkling them in an area of the garden the way I did the garlic chives, but in my new garden the clump that's growing now originated from a small plant I bought at the local Agway about six years ago.

When I first moved here and hadn't yet dug up the sod to start a vegetable garden, I had a small garden of potted herbs on my deck. The Agway-bought onion chives were part of that potted garden.

When fall came, I knew I'd be away for the winter and that potted plants usually don't survive in the snow and freezing temperatures outdoors - and they'd die for sure if I brought them in the house and left them un-watered for three months. So I transferred the potted chives to the first plot I dug for the garden and left them over the winter. They came back bigger and better in the spring, and have thrived ever since.

Some people have success bringing potted herbs indoors for the winter - and some people who don't have gardens grow herbs on their windowsills. I'd love to have herbs growing indoors all year, and one of these winters when I know I will be home for the duration I am going to try it!

Chives Require Minimal Care
Onion and garlic chives require minimal care in the garden. They sprout in spring, grow all summer, and are productive into the fall. During the summer, keep the soil moist, and place clean mulch around the plants to keep weeds down.

Slugs in the fall are the only real nuisances, so be on the look out and organically rid the garden of these pests if you see them. It's really easiest to pick them with a gloved hand and dispose of them.

Some years I cut the chive plants back to the ground in the fall, and other years I let them die back themselves. I think that chives come back stronger if left to die back on their own.

Harvesting and Preserving Chives
Chive stalks become tough as they mature, so be sure to keep cutting the tender young shoots for best flavor and texture.

Towards the end of the season, the chives will send up beautiful white or purple flowers, depending on the variety you grow, that are also very flavorful. They can be strong onion or garlic tasting when used fresh in salads, and they are quite decorative as a garnish for grilled salmon or chicken.

Perhaps one of the best uses of the flowers is to make vinegars with them. Stuff a sterilized quart jar full of flowers, fill with white vinegar, and store for about three weeks in a cupboard, shaking once a week. Strain the liquid through paper coffee filters into other sterilized glass containers. You'll have flavored vinegars tinted lavender and green that last in the refrigerator for months and can be used for salad dressings, marinades, and a substitute for wine in cooking.

Freezing and drying are good methods to preserve chive stalks.

To freeze, snip fresh chives in long lengths, place in a bowl of water to rinse, then drain and pat dry with paper towels. Freeze the stems long, not cut up. If you cut them, you lose the flavor. To use, chop while still frozen then cook in soups, sauces or stir-fries.

Frozen chives will not have the crisp bite of fresh-picked, so they won't have the same use in salads or baked potatoes.

To dry chives, rinse in a bowl of water, drain and pat dry, then place in one layer increments in a dehydrator or on a cookie sheet in a warm oven. After they are thoroughly dry, crumble the chives into tiny pieces and store in sterilized glass jars. Use like any dried green leaf herb to flavor beef, poultry, and pork as well as soups, stews, dressings, and sauces.

One of the great things about chives is that you can easily add a touch of onion or garlic flavor to a dish without using onion bulbs or garlic cloves, and you get a subtler aroma and different texture. They are quite handy that way!

Every Kitchen Herb Garden should have chives in it - you'll love the look of these spiky clumps amongst your other herbs, the ease of growing them, and the constant supply of flavor for your cooking.