Topic: Chives

[Moggle]

Just 'rescued' a little pot of chives from Tescos for 21p. It looks mostly healthy, some leaves are a little yellow.
The pot is a couple of inches square, in order for it to thrive I will be transplanting it to a bigger pot. How do chives grow though, are they annual? (I get confused with my annuals and perennials and half hardy whatevers. I mean will they go year after year, or keel over naturally in a while)
Would i be best to transfer the whole lot to one big pot, or would they benefit from being split?  ???

I intend to try them with new potatoes, as several people here have reccomended them.  :)

[Palustris]

Chives are clump forming perennials. You could either split them or pot them as they are or put them out into the Herb garden. They quickly form a large clump when suited. Only problem we ever have is a form of rust. If you allow them to flower they will also seed around. Does them no harm either to cut right back around now for new leaves later. We freeze the leaves as they are for Winter use. Try them on Leek and Potato soup on a cold Winter's day.

[Kerry]

Hi Moggle, :)
mmm I like chives, one of the first things I grew when little.
Chives are perennials and will die off wintertime and resprout in spring.
I find the outer leaves tend to yellow or brown and can just be pulled off.
In fact I find that the more you pick them and use them, the better they grow. Treat them hard!
Pinch out the flower buds though if you use them for cooking, the stalk with the flower on goes very hard, not conducive to eating.
Mine like a well drained position and some sun, although they don't get sun all day, by any means. You can divide them easily, just pull apart. Fully hardy outside.
Enjoy! :)

[Andy H]

I chop ours into bits and fill ice tray with them then add a bit of water then freeze. then when wanted we just bung a handful of the ice cubes in the stew!!!

[Moggle]

Thanks for the tips everyone  :) Sounds like my 21p very well spent.
I have no garden to put them in, so I think I will split them in half and put one in a big pot outside, and put the other half in a slightly smaller pot and keep them inside and see how they go.
Thanks for the freezing tips too, I've done the 'ice cube' thing before with coriander, good to know I can do it with chives too.

[Palustris]

All we do is chop them up into inch lengths and freeze them on a tray and then bag them. Take up  a lot less room than ice cubes and don't cool your soup!

[grape_expectations]

I grow chives in a pot by my back door.  At the end of summer I pot up a few of the bulbs to put inside on the kitchen windowsill and I find that I can then snip a few fresh chives through the dark months - delish in scrambled eggs.  They get a bit leggy but stay quite tender and tasty.  

Christina

[Moggle]

Thanks all, have split them in half, one is outside in a 5 or 6 inch pot, one is inside in a smaller pot, and I have been hacking at the inside ones already.
They were absolutely lovely on my baked spud with bolognese last night  :D

[philcooper]

And the flowers taste good too.

In a salad they add to the appearance as well as flavour!