Garden calendar for the kitchen garden - vegetables and herbs. See what to plant right now and for next month.

Growing Chives, also Garden chives

(Allium schoenoprasum)

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
P	P	P	P	P				P	P	P	P

(Best months for planting Chives in Australia - temperate regions)

P = Plant direct in garden where they are to grow.

Easy to grow. Sow in garden. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed. Best planted at soil temperatures between 10°C and 30°C. (Show °F/in)
Space plants: 5 cm apart
Harvest in 7-11 weeks.
Compatible with: Carrots, Tomatoes, Parsley, Apples

Chive flowers (foreground)

Grass-like leaves in clumps. Likes full sun but not too dry.

Chives are a perennial but die down in winter. You can dig up a small clump to pot up for indoor use in winter.

Remove flowers to encourage a continuous supply of leaves.

If weeding gets away from you, you can easily distinguish chives from grass because chives have a hollow leaf stem and onion smell.

Culinary hints - cooking and eating Chives

Use raw in salads or as a mild onion flavour in cooked dishes.

Your comments and tips

17 Jan 12, amanda (Australia - temperate climate): my chives are 2 years old and healthy, however this past winter they went a bit dormant and still have not had a growth spurt you would expect with the warm/hot weather. they are in beds, i water daily, and use seasol. i also just put powerfeed pellets in the bed last week. how do i get my chives to perk up and be robust?
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13 Jan 12, Narelle (Australia - temperate climate): Even with an electric propagator, I can't get chive seeds to germinate! Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong? I've tried with 3 different lots of seeds, different growing mediums and different seasons (except Winter).
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14 Jan 12, (Australia - temperate climate): Hi Narelle, perhaps your seed aren't viable, or your seeds are drying out too fast, or are too moist? I have germinated heaps of chives here in Adelaide merely by putting them into good quality seed raising mix and then into a mini hothouse (the type you get from bunnings) , then keeping the topsoil moist with daily sprays from a water spray gun. You have to be patient though, they take a little while to come up initially!!! Good luck :)
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05 Sep 11, Graham (Australia - cool/mountain climate): I have planted garlic chives around my cool climate garden. Garlic chives have flat leaves about 20 cm tall and grows as clumps. It is hardy and easily broken into smaller clumps as spot fillers. I pull a leaf or two and chew them as I garden. The 8 month season finishes and the plant goes into winter dormacy. It seems hardly affected by frost and after drying to straw in winter, it comes back fresh and green as a background plant in any garden. the 40 cm tall flower stem and seed pod is easily clutched and pulled out as part of winter tidy up.
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28 Jul 11, s craddock (Australia - temperate climate): when you harvest chives to eat do you pull the bulb out or jus t ,cut the leaves thanks.
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19 Mar 11, Elaine (Australia - tropical climate): I've just started growing chives in peat pellets in a little 'greenhouse'. I think it took all of 4 days for them to germinate. We'll see how they go when I transfer them to the garden bed or pot.
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30 Apr 10, Leigh (Australia - temperate climate): I wanted to plant some chives seedlings now, is it too late? and should I wait until after winter?
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30 Jan 10, Dee (Australia - temperate climate): Not sure if this will help, (hope it does)... I soak my seeds in hot water for a little while and then put them on cotton wool buds, making sure I keep them moist. I've tried seeds in seed trays and the same in the cotton wool, and the ones in the cotton wool always germinate. Then when they're big enough, I plant the seedling and cotton wool straight into a tray or the garden
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17 Jan 10, Catherine (Australia - sub-tropical climate): I too have had problems growing chives from seed. They don't even germinate. I tried directly in garden bed, and also in seed trays.
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30 Nov 09, Kelly (Australia - temperate climate): ive got regular and garlic chives and there prob the easiest herb-plant ive grown.they grow great in direct sunlight as long as u water daily.i have it outside and it pretty much looks after itself.Ive grown from seedling as well as from seed trays.Seed trays they tend to grow quicker i found. Also i jave planted mine in september.
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See planting calendar for these countries and climate zones

Australia - arid, Australia - cool/mountain, Australia - sub-tropical, Australia - temperate, Australia - tropical, New Zealand - cool/mountain, New Zealand - sub-tropical, New Zealand - temperate, South Africa - Dry summer sub-tropical, South Africa - Humid sub-tropical, South Africa - Semi-arid, South Africa - Summer rainfall, United Kingdom - cool/temperate, United Kingdom - warm/temperate, USA - Central West Coast, USA - Maritime Northwest, USA - Mid-Atlantic, USA - North East, USA - South East and Gulf States, USA - South West, USA - Upper Midwest

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This planting guide is a general reference intended for home gardeners. We recommend that you take into account your local conditions in making planting decisions. Gardenate is not a farming or commercial advisory service. For specific advice, please contact your local plant suppliers, gardening groups, or agricultural department. The information on this site is presented in good faith, but we take no responsibility as to the accuracy of the information provided.

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