Topic: Chives

[glow777]

I'm confused about this chives thing too.

IMHO The easiest way to grow chives is go to morrissons buy a pot for 65p split it in two and plant it. In the autumn when they have doubled or trebled in size split again etc etc etc. And no problem eating the chives while they are growing. If you want more (and who doesn't) buy two pots - they might even be buy 1 get 1 free.

[amphibian]

I'm confused about this chives thing too.

IMHO The easiest way to grow chives is go to morrissons buy a pot for 65p split it in two and plant it. In the autumn when they have doubled or trebled in size split again etc etc etc. And no problem eating the chives while they are growing. If you want more (and who doesn't) buy two pots - they might even be buy 1 get 1 free.

Everytime I try to grow a supermarket herb on, it dies. I swear they irradiate them or something.

I can grow basil from seed, but can't keep a supermarket bought plant alive for a month... weird.

[glow777]

Possibly the pots they come in are only big enough to keep the plant alive long enough for the owner to use to cook with. Anything bigger would rquire more compost packaging and a bigger pot. There goes the profit!

[bennettsleg]

with chives being an allium,  surely the ornery-ness of allium germination applies to them too?  Last year I cheated, bought two pots, stuck them in, though the winter killed them off and yet their back and doubled in size last week resulting in a diamter of 150mm x height of 250mm already!

[Niamh]

Susie,

as far as I know, it would be best to wait until the new chive plant is well established before regular use, so I'd wait until the end of this growing season, maybe even next year, before chopping off chunks!

Rosemary, the little buds you mention are probably the flower heads! As Mimi says, they are very pretty! Probably can collect seed from them too.

sallylockhart, if you wanted to transplant them, the sooner the better. Well established chive plants are generally very hardy and so moving them now should be ok.

I am, of course, pretty sure I'll be corrected on some of this as the day goes on! As for myself, I will probably try sowing more seed or keeping an eye out for a chive plant in one of the supermarkets. I bought a bay from a supermarket, planted it up and it seems to be doing well!

Niamh

[STHLMgreen]

Thanks for the welcome MrsKP and Maggie! I'm new to growing things and decided to start lots of things by seed and see what works. It's all container gardening as I have no allotment and live in an apartment.

The chives were planted Mar 16 and half of them are taller than their pots. The tallest ones are starting to bend over a bit as the sun has been hiding for days now.

[tim]

Chives, anyone??

PS And if you plant supermarket Parsley.................!

[Niamh]

Very jealous of lovely pics of chives, Tim! And that parsley - is it a tree, is it a bush? Just joking, but looks enormous! By the way, was the location of the chives close to the roses accidental or by design? They do say the chives/garlic may ward off aphids, have you found this actually works in this case?

Niamh