How to Start and Grow Chives

Fill a 6-inch pot to about ½ inch from the top with potting soil. Set the pot in a container of warm water until the soil's surface feels moist to the touch. Remove the pot from the water and allow it to drain freely for about an hour.

Scatter chive seeds thinly on the soil surface. Cover the seeds with ¼ inch of soil. Mist the surface with enough water from a plastic spray bottle to evenly moisten it. Don't allow the seeds to dry out while they're germinating, but don't water so much that the soil surface is wet or soggy.

Set the pot on the brightest windowsill in full sun. Chives require at least six hours of direct sunlight each day. They grow best in a room where the temperature remains between 60 and 75 degrees F. The seeds sprout in two or three weeks.

Water the chives enough to keep the soil surface evenly moist but never soggy or wet after they sprout. If the soil is too dry, the tips burn. The roots will rot if standing in wet soil.

Giving the pot a quarter turn each day encourages the plants to grow straight and even.

Feed the chives a good, balanced water-soluble fertilizer diluted to half-strength every two weeks throughout the growing season. Follow the packaging instructions carefully.

Harvest the chives as needed when they're about 5 or 6 inches tall. Snip the tops off with clean, sharp scissors. You can cut these plants back by as much as half without damaging them. Always leave at least 2 inches of the plants intact above the soil line.

Snip off flowers from your chives with scissors if the plants happen to bloom and add them to salads. Cutting the flower stalk off at soil level discourages further blooming. Flowering depletes the plant of nutrients and renders the leaves less flavorful.