Chives: Star of the Herb Garden - Kitchen Garden Magazine

We created a small herb garden last year. The first year it looked a bit sad but this year, with spring rain and warmth, it’s looking lush!

But the star of the patch has got to be these chives. The flowers are so beautiful and what’s more, edible. In fact, last night we chopped them up and added them to our salad to add flavour and colour, though it was a bit of a shame to have to cut them.

Chives are really easy to grow. You can grow from seed in late spring – so now is fine – or buy a small plant from your local garden centre. You can grow them in containers or in the open ground.

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After a couple of years they will have grown much bigger so simply divide them up – before you know it you will have more chives than you can eat!

About four times a year it’s good to cut them back to within 2.5 cm (1in) of the soil surface as this will ensure fresh new growth.

When we’re out of spring onions for our salads we often chop up chive leaves instead, but I think we like the flavour of the flower better.

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Top Tip: plant chives near your carrots to throw the carrot-fly off scent!

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Tony Flanagan

Tony Flanagan is Kitchen Garden’s staff writer. He has been an enthusiastic grower of fruit and veg for many years. His favourite things to grow are peppers (sweet and chllli), tomatoes, herbs and beans. When he is not gardening or not writing about gardening, he is an avid Wolverhampton Wanderers fan. 07587038039 | [email protected]