This is a blog post on growing and harvesting garlic chives. Also known as Allium tuberosum, Chinese chives, asian chives, or garlic leek. This particular variety of chives is a perennial plant that grows back year after year. There are many varieties of chives. So are perennial and some are grown as annuals. This variety is not the common green variety of chive that you see in UK supermarkets.
This particular chive has got broad leaves with a fold in the middle. It is quite commonly used as a filling ingredient in Chinese dumplings or it is simply great fried with egg. Also used a lot in Asian recipe noodles. It does have got a more garlicky taste compared to a spring onion.
Growing and harvesting garlic chives
Chives can be grown from seed or start from chive plants with roots intact. To grow from roots is a bit like growing spring onions. Here is a link to it. Unlike ordinary garlic, the roots of garlic chives don’t hold any bulb.
Sow the seeds under cover if it’s in early spring or sows outdoors till the soil warms up. Once the young seedlings are established then plant out in a raised bed, borders, or larger pot.
Grow the chives in well-drained soil in a sunny spot. Once it’s matured about 6-12 weeks the leaves are ready to harvest. Leave the roots intact for a continuous harvest of chives. This means cutting down to about 5 cm above the ground. They don’t last forever though as the chives will eventually flower come the next summer season. Then it will seed save the seed for more chives. Then it will die back after seeding. Some will continue to flourish right into the next season.
Thank you for reading and dropping by. do have a look at my other gardening tips like growing and harvesting pak choi and growing chop suey greens.
