Harvesting chives

[taxlady]

Tell me about your method for end of season harvesting of chives. I always have a whole bunch of dead, dried up chive leaves and dried up scapes mixed in with the chives. It's tedious sorting the good green leaves from the dried up stuff. How do you do it? Do you have any tips or tricks? Or do you go through the tedious sorting process? By volume, I had about three times as much dried up stuff as green stuff by the time I was done.

 

[pepperhead212]

I can usually find a cluster of mostly green chives, though I do have to look around more for them at this time of year. The garlic chives at this time have those hard flower stalks, but they are easy to pull out from the top. Once they are all dried out, from the cold weather, I weed-wack them flat to the ground, so next season, new clusters grow up.

 

[taxlady]

I usually trim my chives down to about an inch height. Is there an advantage to whacking the chives flat to the ground? Does it stop it from having so much thatch? My little patch of chives has been growing in my garden for somewhere around 20 years and has been moved twice.

I remember when I first found out how hardy and undemanding chives are. We (me and my ex husband) rented an old house on a plot of land that seems to have been mostly used for harvesting wood. There had been some kitchen and vegetable gardens, but not much in the way of regular farming. Well, one day I went for a walk, to explore my surroundings. I came across a large clump of chives, growing at the edge of what seemed to be an old vegetable garden. I don't think that clump of chives had had any care in the previous 30 years. So, they obviously will keep coming back, even if they are never cut all the way down.

 

[Badjak]

I just sort, but so far it's just the odd one I need to take out

 

[taxlady]

Oh, and how do you store them or use them up? I usually lay them on a piece of waxed paper and roll them up, in the direction that keeps the package long. Then they go in a plastic bag and into the freezer. But, they are not nearly as decorative after being frozen. They seem to work best sliced small and added to something like soup, where their floppy texture is less noticeable.

 

[pepperhead212]

I just use them fresh, and in the off season, I plant a few in the hydroponics.

 

[Badjak]

I'm just harvesting what I need
I'm hoping they grow yearround. I don't know yet.
Mine are actually spring onions that I planted out and keep harvesting from.
They look and taste like chives though. No flowers yet

 

[jennyema]

I have chives in Boston and the Cape.

I make chive blossom vinegar in the spring (delicious and underrated) and then later in the summer I paw through the chive plants and pull out the hard stems.

Around now, I cut a bunch and freeze them. But then I just leave them alone. Because it doesn’t get super cold on the Cape I use them year round.

 

[taxlady]

Around now, I cut a bunch and freeze them. But then I just leave them alone. Because it doesn’t get super cold on the Cape I use them year round.

Here, I wouldn't even be able to find them in winter. The leaves in that clump of chives that I just cut had already fallen over.

Next year, I plan to cut the entire scape, when I collect the blossoms. Question about the blossoms: At what stage do you harvest them? I usually wait until they are fully open, but I have no idea if it would be better to harvest the buds or partially open flowers.

 

[larry_stewart]

MY cluster of chives has been dwindling over the years. Only about 10 strands left. I dont think it even flowered this year. Im a little upset , cause I got them from my dad's garden from the house I grew up in. Im afraid this winter may be the one that finally does them in .

 

[taxlady]

MY cluster of chives has been dwindling over the years. Only about 10 strands left. I dont think it even flowered this year. Im a little upset , cause I got them from my dad's garden from the house I grew up in. Im afraid this winter may be the one that finally does them in .

Oh no! Maybe there is something you can do to revive it. Maybe it needs feeding.

 

[dragnlaw]

taxy, how much do you use during the off season? Mostly to sprinkle on top of things, right? or perhaps mix into a cheese concoction?
You could divide your clump, pot it and bring into the house.
Cut it back, to what-ever height you like. Outside will regrow in spring. Inside it'll start to regrow right away in a sunny window.
In the spring you can replant it next to it's sister and they'll be happy to see each other. (from 8am this morning)

Larry is it big enough to try and divide? That just might save it rejuvenate it.

 

[pepperhead212]

Not sure what would make it "dwindle" like that. I've never had them die from anything, just get smaller, but many more in large clusters.
What I do after the clumps just get too large - usually over 3", every 3 years or so - is dig them up, and separate, and re-plant small clumps, about 3/4-1", and the next season they get much larger chives in them. The garlic chives don't really need this, and just slowly spread to cover the entire area - the reason I pulled them out of my main herb bed, as they become a weed! Behind my shed, they have almost covered the entire area, which I don't mind!

 

[taxlady]

taxy, how much do you use during the off season? Mostly to sprinkle on top of things, right? or perhaps mix into a cheese concoction?
You could divide your clump, pot it and bring into the house.
Cut it back, to what-ever height you like. Outside will regrow in spring. Inside it'll start to regrow right away in a sunny window.
In the spring you can replant it next to it's sister and they'll be happy to see each other. (from 8am this morning)

<snip>

How much do I use in the off season? Not much, but that's because I don't have the fresh stuff. The frozen stuff is fine for putting in things and sprinkling on top of something like soup or stew. It's not nearly as decorative on a smørrebrød when it's the floppy, defrosted stuff. I'm too cheap to pay for chives. Have you seen what they want for it?

If I find the energy to do it, I just might take your suggestion of dividing the clump.

 

[dragnlaw]

Price and quantity used is exactly why bringing some indoors makes it worth while.

 

[blissful]

Uh, thank you for reminding me that I planned to divide the two great big pots of chives, and then....didn't get that done.
Some day on my tombstone it will say, 'she still didn't divide the chives'.

One year I took a medium pot of chives and divided it into 10 smaller pots. Sold them when we were selling tomato transplants in the spring.

 

[taxlady]

Uh, thank you for reminding me that I planned to divide the two great big pots of chives, and then....didn't get that done.
Some day on my tombstone it will say, 'she still didn't divide the chives'.

One year I took a medium pot of chives and divided it into 10 smaller pots. Sold them when we were selling tomato transplants in the spring.

Do you grow all of your chives in pots? Do you grow any in the ground? I always had the impression that chives thrive better in the ground. They don't seem to mind extremely cold weather, when they are in the ground. They just sleep through it.

 

[pepperhead212]

Except for the hydroponics chives, I found that potted chives eventually get very rootbound, sort of like what happens with the clusters in the ground, just quicker. I liked having them in those windowsill boxes, up around the deck, to have within close reach, but by about mid August, it was totally rootbound, though I will say that they didn't seem that affected by it, like the leaf parsley.

BTW, I'm too cheap to pay for a lot of things, if you haven't figured that out already!

 

[blissful]

Do you grow all of your chives in pots? Do you grow any in the ground? I always had the impression that chives thrive better in the ground. They don't seem to mind extremely cold weather, when they are in the ground. They just sleep through it.

Big pots a 14-16 inches, two of them, over a foot tall, on the deck, 2 feet off the ground, through all the seasons, outside. I don't grow any in the ground, yet.

@pepperhead212 frugal people save up for the nicer things they want. I finally saved enough to get a good scanner for art work and pictures last week. All paid for by saving money a little at a time.