Description
Key Facts
- Ideal for use in fish, potatoes, soups, and other dishes.
- Easy to grow
- Takes about 3 months to grow
Background
- Plain or fresh chives are native to Europe, Asia and North America.
- With a onion flavour it’s a very versatile ingredient.
- Either used as a garnish in ingredient for many dishes.
- Days from seed to harvest – about 90 (3 months)
- About 30 to 60 cm high
Example fresh chives recipes
Plain or fresh chives are a very popular plant to grow.
Most people will be aware of plain or fresh chives. they tend to have a onion flavour and are often used as a garnish. These are often diced and used are as an ingredient for fish, potatoes, soups, and other dishes.
Example recipes are
How to Grow Fresh chives at home
There are 3 main stages in growing chives:
1. Propogation
You can either sow the seeds straight into soil or use growing blocks (in the same method as parsley). The difference compared to a herb like parsley is that chive seeds will germinate easily and quickly – usually within 10 days.
When sowing in soil
- Sow them 13 mm deep
- And keep an ideal temperature of 16° – 22° C.
- And thin seedlings 15 mm between plants
2. Transplanting & Growing
If you are transplanting to a hydroponic or aquaponic system
- Transplant them after 4 to 6 weeks
- They will grow at their best at a temperature of about 19°C.
- And need at least 14 hours of light per day
If you are growing them in soil please note they need plenty of moisture.
3. Harvesting
You can start cutting them when the plants are at least 15 cm tall.
- Cut the leaves 5 cms above the base of the plant.
- Make sure to leave enough foliage to help the plant regenerate.
- At most cut upto 2/3 of the plant
Minze Vries –
Nice easy herbs to grow – not one of my core ones but worth it if you have the space