How to Grow Chives at Home

The mild onion flavor of chives complements baked potatoes, vegetable dishes and soups. Use chives fresh or dry them for use as an herb year-round -- even when the garden isn't producing. Chives have slender green leaves that provide the edible part of the plant. They form a small bulb, or bulblet, at their base similar to a green onion. Chives grow as perennials, so once the seeds are sown, they can be counted on to continue chive production for many years with only minimal care.

Things You'll Need

Compost
Rake

Chives seeds
Shears

Instructions

- 1
  Spread a 1-inch layer of compost over a full-sun garden bed. Work the compost into the top 6 inches of soil to add fertility and to condition the soil. Rake the soil surface smooth before planting.
- 2
  Sow the chives seeds after soil temperatures raise above 45 degrees Fahrenheit in spring. Sow the seeds on the soil surface, planting one seeds per 1-inch of row. Space the rows 12 to 15 inches apart.
- 3
  Cover the seeds with a ¼-inch layer of moistened compost. Seeds germinate in one to three weeks.
- 4
  Thin the seedlings in the row so the remaining plants are spaced 4 to 6 inches apart. Thin once the seedlings are about 3 inches tall.
- 5
  Water chives one to two times weekly. Supply enough moisture to dampen the top 6 inches of soil. Chives survive mild drought but grow best with even soil moisture.
- 6
  Harvest the chives as needed beginning 60 to 90 days after germination. Cut off the foliage to within 2 inches the soil. The plants grow back from the roots.
- 7
  Divide chives yearly in fall, beginning the second year after seeding. Dig up the clumps and separate the plants into individual bulbs. Replant the chives at 4- to 6-inch spacing.

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