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I use chives in my kitchen and on my patio with equal enthusiasm. We're all familiar with the delicate onion or garlic flavor they give to our cooking, but did you know they are also a very pretty plant? Chives blooms are a pretty mauve color (garlic chives are white) with a round, globular shape and their straight, grasslike foliage adds a strong linear element to a container without being too stiff in appearance. I like to use them as a substitute for green onions, since they give a similar flavor to a dish without all the calories or carbs found in the onions. And the fact that chives are so easy to grow is simply an added benefit. Chives are easily grown from seed. They are also easy to transplant... and that's a very good bit of information to have. They will re-seed themselves if you don't remove the flowers and you will soon have a nice dense patch of chives if you leave them unattended. Because of this, it's particularly easy to transplant a small clump of chives into a pot for the winter windowsill. To harvest chives, you can simply trim off the tops. They grow back quickly to provide you with more clippings. However, you will end up with nice, uniformly flat tops if you harvest this way. If you're like me and prefer the random lengths and pointy tips, harvest by cutting a few of the tubular leaves near the base of the plant rather than bobbing just the top. When cut to the ground like this, the plant puts out new growth vigorously. Never over-cut the plant. Too frequent cutting will eventually weaken the bulb and you'll get spindly, unattractive foliage. If you use chives heavily, consider planting more than one container or pot so you can alternate your harvests. Garlic Chives: Garlic chives are a first cousin to common chives and have an endearing white flower. The leaves are flat and coarser than common chives and they have a mild garlic flavor. In late summer, their starry, sweet-scented white flowers add floral sparks to your containers. They haven't been quite so ready to self-sow in my garden as the common chives. Slightly different than regular chives, with garlicky flavor. Garlic Chives are perennial. 60 DAYS. |