Chives

How to sow

Sow 1 cm, as a clump. Use peat-free coco. Keep the surface just moist.

Germination 7–21 days in the crop record.

Growing

1. Sowing — Day 0. Sow 8–12 seeds together, 1 cm deep. Keep evenly moist.
2. Germination — Days 7–21. Do not let the surface crust. Cool compost is fine.
3. First harvest — Week 8. Snip leaves 2 cm above the compost. The clump regrows.

Keep at or above 8°C where the crop record sets a floor.

Harvest

First cut around 8 weeks.

Snip leaves 2 cm above the compost. The clump regrows.

Common mistakes

• Cutting to the compost — The white bases are the crown. Strip them and the clump stalls. Always leave about 2 cm of green above the soil.
• Treating it as an annual — Chives are perennial. A well-kept clump outlasts basil by years. Keep one pot going. Divide rather than resow every spring.
• Letting pets graze — Alliums are toxic to cats and dogs. Keep the pot off the floor. Same rule as spring onion.

In the kitchen

• Egg finish — Snip over scrambled eggs, omelettes, or a boiled egg with salt. Add off the heat.
• Sour cream — Fold into sour cream or crème fraîche with black pepper.
• Potato salad — Stir a handful of snipped chives through warm potatoes with mustard and oil.
• Soft cheese — Mix into cream cheese or goat's cheese. Spread on rye.
• Flower garnish — Break the purple pom-pom into florets and scatter on salads.

Questions

Sources

1. Chives Seed Pack
2. Coco Soil treatise
3. HubWīk contents