Garlic Chives

An Intro to Garlic Chives

MY STATUS: Grown Successfully to Harvest   

Garlic chives (Allium Tuberosum), also known as Asian garlic or Chinese leeks, are related to onions but have different shaped leaves and grow taller. The plant grows in perennial clumps that slowly spread, producing grassy leaves up to 15 inches tall. Leaves and stalks are used in cooking, particularly in East Asian cuisine.

SUN CITY

Garlic chives like full sun or partial shade.

KEEP THEM MOIST

Though you'll want to keep your garlic chives out of the rain like most plants non-native to Pohnpei, they do like moist soil. They can survive periods of dryness, but they won't produce many leaves if they aren't getting regular water. Watering deeply but infrequently will encourage root growth.

FERTILIZE IT

This plants likes nutrients, so you'll have better results if you fertilize regularly with something mild like fish emulsion.

HARVESTING

Like many herbs, harvesting actually stimulates growth. You can start cutting leaves for use as soon as they are about 4 inches tall. Cut them an inch above the soil.

REMOVE THE BUDS

Snip off any flower buds that develop to keep the plant focused on leaf production and prevent it from going to seed.

What I Did

DAY 1 - SOWING

Chives can be started in a seed tray, but I just didn't see the point in that, since we don't have issues with cool weather here. I had a long, rectangular container that was perfect for them, so I sowed directly into it. I didn't do anything fancy with the soil mix. I just put some gravel on the bottom of the pot and filled the rest up with potting soil. Seeds were sprinkled over the surface and covered with a thin layer of dirt. The pot was then carefully watered. I used Ferry-Morse StartSmart seeds purchased at Home Depot in Southern California. They were kept in the fridge for about 3 months before I got around to sowing.

DAY 8 - GERMINATION

About 11-12 seeds have germinated.

DAY 60 - SLOW GROWTH

With the arrival of the wet season, the sun has been scarce and it has been rainy and humid most days until about 1 week ago. My chives have grown very slowly, but they don't seem unhealthy so I hold out hope. Two months after sowing, however, they are still quite small. I'm going to try cutting leaves to see if that stimulates growth the way it has with basil and some of the other herbs.

DAY 87 - PARTIAL SHADE WORKS BETTER THAN FULL SUN

These damn plants have developed at a snail's pace, and I'm now convinced it was because they were getting too much hot, direct sun. I moved them into the shade of another plant about a week ago, and things have picked up dramatically. Also, I cut all the plants down to an inch above the soil. In a couple of days they were thicker and bushier and as tall as before. Cutting certainly stimulates growth. They have nice, mild onion flavor when chewed. I had some on my baked potato last night. :)

DAY 126 (9/5) - GOOD GROWTH, FINALLY

After all this time, finally, the chives look good. They are filling out the container and growing nicely. A little shade has helped. Cutting them also results in lots of new growth. The flavor is excellent! Very garlicy. Great on baked potatoes.

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