How to grow chives

You can buy chive seeds from most gardening retailers, and potted plants are cheap and widely available too, from garden centres, online retailers and supermarkets.

Garlic chives are also widely available, as seeds or plants. To track down other species and varieties, try herb nurseries and online suppliers.

In early spring, sow seeds thinly in small pots or modular trays filled with seed compost. Cover with a thin layer of vermiculite, then water gently.

Place in a heated propagator or cover with a clear plastic bag and place somewhere warm to germinate. Once the tiny grass-like seedlings appear, remove from the propagator or uncover, then place in a warm bright location to grow on.

Transplant your young chives outside once they’re 10cm (4in) tall – see Planting, below. You should be able to start harvesting leaves from mid-summer onwards.

Alternatively, keep young plants indoors on a bright kitchen windowsill, so you’ll always have fresh chives to hand.

Sow seeds in spring into prepared ground (see above) or large containers filled with multi-purpose compost.

Water newly planted chives and young plants regularly for at least their first summer.

For plenty of lush, succulent leaves, make sure chives don’t go short of water in warm, dry weather. Plants in containers can dry out quickly, so water them regularly throughout the growing season.

Lay a thick layer of mulch, such as garden compost, around clumps of chives to help hold moisture in the soil and stop it drying out in hot weather.

Weed thoroughly before sowing or planting chives, then keep the area free of weeds on an ongoing basis, so chives don’t have to compete for water or light.

Dense weeds can also reduce air circulation, which can allow fungal diseases such as leek rust to spread.

You can easily make new plants from an established clump of chives by dividing it into several smaller clumps in spring. Replant these straight away (see Planting, above). This should be done every few years to stop clumps getting overcrowded and keep them healthy and growing strongly.

With plants in containers, either move large clumps into a slightly bigger pot every few years or divide in a similar way to plants in the ground.

Chives produce small pinky-mauve pompom flowerheads in late spring and summer, which look decorative and are edible too. The nectar-rich flowers are also great for pollinating insects, especially bees.

After flowering, to keep chives looking neat, remove the faded heads, cutting and removing the tough, inedible flower stalks right at the base. Alternatively, once the flowers fade, cut the whole clump down to 5cm (2in) from the base, to stimulate a fresh new flush of young, tasty foliage that you can start picking in a few weeks. 

Flowering hinders new leaf production, so if harvesting the leaves is your priority, then you can remove all the flower buds to prevent flowering.