Common Chives

Open-Pollinated · 60–80 days from direct seeding

Meet This Plant

Common Chives are one of the most low-maintenance herbs you can grow, and unlike most things in a vegetable garden, they come back on their own every year. The slender hollow leaves have a mild onion flavor that's gentle enough to use raw on just about everything. In late spring the plant puts up round purple flowers that are just as edible as the leaves and genuinely beautiful in the garden.

Plant them once, cut them back, and they keep showing up.

What it tastes like: Soft and mildly oniony without any of the bite you'd get from a raw onion. The flowers taste like a gentler version of the leaves with a little sweetness. Scatter them on anything and it instantly looks like you know what you're doing.

How to Grow It

• Depth¼ inch
• Spacing4–6 inches
• Row Spacing12 inches
• Germination10–14 days. Chive seed loses viability faster than most. Use seed that's less than 2–3 years old for the best germination rates.
• Days to Maturity60–80 days from direct seeding · 30 days from transplant

Grow Friend Tips

They come back every year

Chives are a perennial, which means once they're established you don't have to replant them. Cut them back at the end of the season, leave the roots in the ground, and they'll push up fresh growth again. In colder climates they die back in winter and come back in spring. In warm climates they often stay evergreen and you can harvest from them year-round.

The flowers are edible and worth saving

The purple globe flowers that appear in late spring are one of the best things about growing chives. Pick them just after they open when they're brightest and most flavorful. Scatter the individual florets over salads, eggs, soups, and dips. They taste like a milder version of the leaves with a slight sweetness.

Deadhead if you don't want them everywhere

Chives will self-seed if you let the flower heads mature and drop. That's either a feature or a problem depending on how you feel about it. Deadhead the flowers before they dry out and drop seeds if you want to keep them contained.

Cut them all the way down for the best regrowth

When harvesting cut the leaves down to about an inch above the soil rather than snipping just the tips. This encourages the plant to push up fresh tender growth rather than continuing to extend the same older leaves. The new growth that follows is sweeter and more flavorful.

Divide them every few years

Chive clumps get dense and crowded over time and production drops off. Every 3–4 years dig up the clump in early spring, pull it apart into smaller sections, and replant them with more space between them. The divided plants will take off and produce more than the original crowded clump ever did.

Harvest & What to Do With It

When it's ready

Chives are ready for their first harvest when leaves are at least 6 inches tall, typically 60–80 days from seed or 30 days from transplant. In subsequent years established plants are ready to harvest much earlier in the season.

How to harvest

Cut leaves down to about an inch above the soil using scissors or snips. Harvest from the outside of the clump and work inward. The plant will regrow quickly. During the first year limit yourself to 3–4 harvests to let the plant establish. In following years you can cut back monthly through the growing season.

Yield

A single clump gives you a steady supply of fresh herb through the season. Two or three clumps is plenty for most home cooks and they grow bigger and more productive each year.

Short-term storage

Wrap in a damp paper towel and refrigerate in a bag. Keeps 5–7 days. Best used fresh.

Long-term storage

What to cook

Snipped over eggs, baked potatoes, soups, and salads where the mild onion flavor adds something without taking over. Stirred into cream cheese, sour cream, and compound butter. Scattered over smoked fish. Used anywhere you want a gentle allium note without the bite of raw onion. The flowers scattered over a dish right before serving are one of the easiest and most impressive things you can do with a home garden.

Seed Storage & Saving

Storing unused seeds: Keep somewhere cool, dark, and dry. Chive seed loses viability faster than most. Best used within 1–2 years for the strongest germination rates.

Seed saving: Chives are insect-pollinated and will cross with other chive varieties nearby but will not cross with onions, leeks, or garlic. Isolate by at least a quarter mile for reliable purity or grow only one variety at a time. Let a few flower heads fully mature and dry on the plant. Once the seed heads are black and papery, cut them, bring inside to finish drying, then shake the seeds out. If you don't want volunteers everywhere, collect the seed heads before they shatter on their own.