How to Grow Chives – Planting, Care, and Harvest Tips

Chives are the herb that asks almost nothing of you and gives back all season long. Plant one small clump, and a few years later you have a fountain of slender, oniony green spears plus a flush of edible purple pompom flowers in spring. They are perennials, so they die back in winter and return on their own, and they shrug off cold that would flatten basil or cilantro. If you want a low-effort herb that earns its spot in both the garden bed and the kitchen, this is the one to start with. Below is everything you need to plant chives, keep them productive, harvest them the right way, and even coax a fresh winter crop indoors.

Quick facts about chives

Common chives and garlic chives are two different plants

When someone says “chives,” they could mean one of two species, and the difference matters once you start cooking.

Common chives (Allium schoenoprasum) are the familiar ones with thin, hollow, tube-like blue-green leaves and rounded purple-pink pompom flowers in mid-spring. They have a mild, fresh onion flavor and grow 10 to 15 inches tall.

Garlic chives (Allium tuberosum), also called Chinese chives, have flat, solid leaves rather than hollow ones, plus white, star-shaped flowers that open later, in late summer. As the name promises, the leaves carry a gentle garlic note. They grow a bit taller, to around 20 inches, and are slightly less cold-hardy than common chives.

Both grow the same way and both produce edible leaves and flowers, so the choice comes down to flavor and bloom timing. Many gardeners grow both. The rest of this guide applies to either species unless noted.

Give chives full sun and well-drained, fertile soil

Chives do best in full sun, meaning six to eight hours of direct light, though they tolerate light shade and even appreciate some afternoon protection in hot southern climates. The one thing they will not forgive is soggy ground.

Work several inches of aged compost or other rich organic matter into the bed before planting to feed the plants and improve drainage. Aim for a soil pH between 6.0 and 7.0; a quick soil test takes the guesswork out of it. Avoid planting in wet, heavy soil, which invites bulb and stem rot.

One counterintuitive point worth knowing up front: chives are not heavy feeders, and over-fertilizing actually works against you. Pushing fast, lush growth produces weaker, blander leaves. Soil rich in organic matter usually supplies all the nutrients an in-ground plant needs.

Plant chives from divisions for the fastest start, or from seed

You have two reliable ways to start chives, and they suit different situations.

Starting from divisions or transplants

This is the easiest, most foolproof route. Set out rooted clumps or nursery transplants in early spring, once the danger of hard frost has passed. Chive divisions are among the very first things you can plant in spring because they handle cold so well. Space clumps 8 to 12 inches apart; they fill in over time.

If a gardening friend already grows chives, ask for a division. Dig up an established clump, pull off a smaller section of 5 to 10 bulbs, and replant it. You get an instant, harvest-ready plant.

Starting from seed

Seed is cheap and easy, it just takes longer. To get a head start in cold regions, sow indoors 6 to 8 weeks before your last expected frost:

• Plant seeds about 1/4 inch deep and water well.
• Chive seeds germinate best in darkness, so keep the pot in a dark spot at 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit until they sprout, then move them into bright light.
• When seedlings reach about 4 to 6 inches tall, harden them off and transplant them out after the last frost, spacing them 8 to 12 inches apart.

You can also direct-sow outdoors after the last frost; germination just runs slower while the soil warms. Expect to begin harvesting roughly 60 days after seeding versus about 30 days after setting out a transplant.

Water consistently, but feed with a light hand

Established chives are fairly drought tolerant, but they reward steady moisture with more and better leaves. When rain is scarce, water deeply enough that the root zone does not dry out; leaves that dry out turn brown and papery at the tips. A light mulch of compost, shredded leaves, or grass clippings helps hold moisture and keeps weeds down around the shallow bulbs.

Feeding is where many gardeners overdo it. For chives growing in good garden soil, a single very light application of a balanced fertilizer in spring is plenty, and only if the plant looks weak from years of cutting. Container chives are the exception: potting mix runs out of nutrients faster, so feed them with a half-strength liquid fertilizer every four to six weeks during active growth. Skip feeding entirely in winter.

Harvest chives without killing the plant

This is the part most gardeners get slightly wrong, and it is the difference between a tidy, productive clump and a stubby, brown-tipped one.

Wait until the plant is well established and at least 6 inches tall, then harvest with a sharp pair of scissors or shears. The key technique: cut whole leaves all the way down to within about 1 to 2 inches of the soil, working from the outside of the clump inward. Do not simply snip the top few inches off. Cutting the tips leaves a brown, chopped-off stub on every blade, and it does not encourage regrowth the way a clean basal cut does.

Always leave some growth behind so the plant can rebuild energy in its bulbs. In the first year, harvest lightly, three or four times total, to let the clump establish. Once a plant is a year or more old, you can cut it back regularly, even monthly, and it will keep bouncing back. Stop harvesting about three weeks before your first fall frost so the plant can store energy for winter.

When chives bloom, the leaves can turn tougher, so harvest before or during flowering for the best texture and flavor.

Use the edible flowers and deadhead to control reseeding

Those purple (or white, on garlic chives) pompoms are not just pretty, they are edible and carry the same mild onion or garlic flavor. Pick them just after they open and look full and bright, then break the florets apart over salads, eggs, or compound butter, or steep whole blossoms in white vinegar to make a rosy, oniony infusion.

There is a practical reason to harvest the flowers too. Once blooms fade, common chives spend energy setting seed instead of leaves, and garlic chives in particular reseed enthusiastically, scattering volunteers all over the garden. To keep plants productive and prevent a carpet of seedlings, cut the spent flower stalks off at the soil line before seeds mature. Deadheading, or simply cutting blossoms for the vase, solves both problems at once.

Divide clumps every few years to keep them vigorous

Chives are a victim of their own success. A single plant multiplies into a dense clump of small bulbs, and once it gets crowded, growth slows. Every three to four years, in early spring, dig up the clump and pull or cut it into sections of four to six bulbs each. Trim the leaves back to a couple of inches, replant the divisions 8 to 12 inches apart in compost-enriched soil, and water them in. You get healthier plants and free new ones for the rest of the garden.

Grow chives indoors on a sunny windowsill

Chives adapt to indoor life better than almost any other herb, which makes them ideal for a kitchen herb garden. Use a pot with drainage holes and a light, well-draining potting mix, and set it in the brightest window you have. Harvest exactly as you would outdoors.

Expect little to no growth in the dim, short days of midwinter; the plant may even die back slightly, but it rallies as light returns in spring. Do not fertilize during this rest period.

Force a fresh winter harvest with a cold-dormancy trick

If you want fresh chives in the depths of winter, you can fool the plant into a second spring. Chives actually need a cold dormant period to grow well, so the trick is to give them that chill first.

In late fall, let an outdoor clump sit through the first few hard frosts to trigger dormancy. Then dig it up, pot it, and bring it indoors to a bright windowsill. (Alternatively, pot the clump and chill it in a paper bag in the refrigerator for about four weeks before bringing it into the warmth.) The cold-then-warm sequence convinces the plant that spring has arrived, and it pushes out a flush of fresh leaves to harvest through the cold months.

Watch for aphids and thrips, but expect few problems

Chives are famously trouble-free, and they are pest-free enough that gardeners often plant them to protect neighbors. Still, two pests show up often enough to know.

Aphids, especially black ones, are drawn to chives in spring and cluster on the flower stalks and down in the crown of the plant. Because the waxy leaves cause sprays to bead up and roll off, treat carefully with neem oil or insecticidal soap, aiming to actually wet the pests deep in the crown rather than just misting the surface. Onion thrips can leave silvery streaks along the hollow leaves in hot, dry weather; plants that get regular water are far less likely to be bothered.

Disease is rarely an issue. The main risk is fungal trouble that develops when plants are crowded in humid conditions or sitting in wet soil, which is one more reason for good spacing, drainage, and periodic division.

Pair chives with the right garden neighbors

Chives earn their reputation as a useful companion plant. Their oniony scent is thought to deter pests such as aphids, Japanese beetles, and even mildew and scab on nearby crops, and the flowers draw pollinators to the garden. They are said to improve the flavor and growth of carrots, tomatoes, celery, and members of the cabbage family.

The exceptions are beans and peas. Like other alliums, chives do not play well with legumes, so keep them apart in the bed.

Store extra chives by freezing or making herb butter

Chives taste best fresh, and their delicate flavor breaks down with heat, so add them at the very end of cooking, scattered over eggs, potatoes, soups, fish, or salads. To keep a surplus, snip washed leaves into small pieces and freeze them in a container or bag; there is no need to thaw before using. You can also dry the leaves on a screen in a warm, airy spot out of direct sun, or blend fresh chives into herb butters, oils, and vinegars, where they pair beautifully with parsley and tarragon.

Give chives a sunny spot, cut them the right way, divide them every few years, and a single clump will feed your kitchen for a decade or more. Start one this spring, and let it become the herb you reach for without a second thought.