Garlic chives, also known as Chinese chives, is a versatile garden plant grown as a culinary herb and as an ornamental flowering perennial. At first glance, garlic chives could easily be confused with common chives, but on closer inspection you will find that their leaves are very different and taste like garlic.
This amazing herb is a staple in Chinese and Japanese cuisines, where it is treated as a vegetable and lightly steamed or cooked in broths, soups, eggs, and seafood. My absolute favorite method of using garlic chives is gently frying the flowering landscapes in salty butter and drizzling over baked cod. It tastes great!
In the west, garlic chives are grown in garden edges rather than for cooking because of their attractive floral display. This is perfectly understandable as the flowers are stunning and are a magnet for pollinating and other beneficial insects. It can be grown in containers, flower borders, vegetable gardens alongside other herbs, and even as a dense ground cover. Garlic chives are valued for their compact green foliage and tall flower stalks topped with delicate white flowers in late summer and fall.
Garlic chives are one of those fantastic herbs that go perfectly with edible and decorative landscapes. Plus, a tiny plant provides free garlic chives forever!
Good products for growing garlic chives:
Brief instructions for care
Garlic chives are a staple in Asian cuisine. Source: yummysmellsca
| Common Name (s) | Garlic Chives, Chinese Chives, Oriental Chives, Gow Choy, Nira |
| Scientific name | Allium tuberosum |
| Days to harvest | 30 days after transplantation, 60 days after sowing |
| light | Full sun to partial shade |
| water | Regular watering |
| ground | sandy loam |
| fertilizer | Balanced and rich in nitrogen |
| Pests | Onion fly maggots, thrips, allium leaf miners |
| Diseases | Onion blight, downy mildew |
All about garlic chives
Garlic Chives form large buds from which flower umbels arise. Source: eam31
Botanically known as Allium tuberosum, garlic chives come from the Allium family along with leeks, garlic, and onions. Common names are garlic chives, Chinese chives, oriental chives, Chinese leeks, as well as gow choy and nira. Its origins lie in northern China and the first recorded use was around 4,000 years ago.
Garlic chives are sturdy, clump-forming perennials that can easily be mistaken for grass. The leaves are green / gray, strap-like and curved downwards at the tip. In contrast to the hollow leaves of typical chives, garlic chive leaves are flat with a triangular cross-section and grow to be 30-38 cm long. They are not as tender as onion and chive leaves and must be cooked before eating.
From late summer onwards, umbels of pretty white flowers appear at the end of long, smooth flowers (stems) that rise above the foliage to around 45 cm. Umbels have a diameter of 5 to 8 cm and consist of 25 to 55 small, individual, 6-petalled, star-shaped flowers. As autumn draws to a close, the flowers gently fade to light brown pods with angular black seeds. Garlic chives are a productive self-seeder, but not invasive. Flowers can be removed before the fruit peels ripen to prevent unwanted seedlings from appearing all over the garden.
Garlic chives roots are elongated onions attached to underground rhizomes. Each onion produces 4-9 leaves and a single flower stem. The rhizomes spread over 50 cm in 3 years. This is an ideal time to divide the plant to prevent bulbs from becoming clogged and unproductive.
As an herbaceous perennial, garlic chives die off in winter and new shoots appear in early spring. In hotter climates, garlic chives can be evergreen. All parts of the plant are edible, but it is grown primarily for its greens, flowering landscapes, buds, and flowers.
plants
Garlic and chive plants grow well in both garden beds and containers. Source: Liralen Li
Garlic chives will be available online or in garden centers from spring and can be planted in their new growing location after the last frost. Divide mature plants in late fall, when the plant goes into dormant state, or in spring, when the first shoots appear. Newly divided chives can be replanted or potted immediately.
Sow the seeds in modular trays in autumn or 6-8 weeks before the last frost date. As soon as all danger of frost is over, the seedlings can be planted outdoors with a distance of 30 cm between plants and rows. From mid to late spring, sow the seeds directly into the drills and thin the seedlings at the same distance as above.
Garlic chives can be grown in full sun to partial shade in fertile, well-drained, moisturizing soils. Plants grown in containers need a high quality, multipurpose compost with lots of organic matter to hold in moisture. Garlic chives grow happily indoors with enough water and partial shade in summer.
Garlic chives care
The leaves of garlic chives are flat rather than tubular. Source: MelEdwardsPhots
This cool season herb is easy to care for and easy to grow. Below are some helpful tips on how to grow garlic chives at home.
Sun and temperature
Grow garlic chives in full sun to partial shade with around 4-6 hours of sunlight per day for optimal growth. As a cut root plant, garlic chives require the cooler temperatures of spring and late summer to develop leaves and flowers. High temperatures can cause garlic chives to become temporarily inactive. The ideal growth temperature range is 4-29ºC (40-85ºF) in USDA Zones 3-9.
Onions and rhizomes should withstand freezing temperatures pretty well, but if in doubt, add mulch for winter protection.
Water and moisture
Garlic chives tolerate periods of drought, but grows best in evenly moist soil. The lightbulbs are near the surface and can dry out quickly. When the soil feels dry, water it and apply mulching to trap the moisture. Water in the morning with drinking hoses, watering cans, or sprinklers to ensure the chives get a good long drink.
Winter irrigation is not required in colder climates. In warmer climates, where garlic chives are evergreen, they need occasional watering.
ground
The perfect conditions for growing garlic chives are fertile, moisture-resistant, well-drained sandy loam soils with lots of organic matter that has been dug in or added as mulch. The preferred pH range is between 6 and 7, and the soil temperature required for germination is 15 to 21 ° C (60 to 70 ° F).
Fertilize
Prepare the beds with a 16-16-8 slow release NPK fertilizer before planting. Directly sown and established plants can be coated with a nitrogen-rich fertilizer in late spring / early summer and watered well. Make sure you have good mulch over the winter to retain moisture and provide nutrients for the start of the following season.
clipping
Treat garlic chives as a cut and come back herb; The more you cut, the more it will grow back. Trim the leaves back a few inches above the ground to keep the plant clean and encourage fresh growth.
If you don't want garlic and chive seedlings to show up in the garden, prune the flowering stems to ground level when the seed heads begin to mature. Remove dead leaves if the plant dies in winter.
Multiplication
There are two easy ways to multiply garlic chives. Sowing and division.
Start the garlic chives indoors in the fall or spring about 6-8 weeks before the last frost date. Sow 4-5 seeds per module half an inch deep in general potting soil. Seeds can also be transferred to a seed coat. Garlic and Chive Seeds do not require light to germinate, but they do require heat between 15 and 21 ° C (60-70 ° F). Put your seed coats in a warm place to stimulate germination. This can take 1-3 weeks. After germination, move the seedlings to a light place. When they are a few inches tall and there is no longer any risk of frost, plant them outside in small bunches 30 cm apart.
After three years, garlic and chives onions can become clogged and lose their strength. Therefore, division is the best measure to produce healthy plants. There are two ways to do this. Offsets that grow from the main clump of onions can be carefully pulled out and potted. Or carefully dig around the entire plant and pull apart bunches of 4-5 bulbs to create new plants.
Harvesting and storing
These flat-leaved chives are best used fresh. Source: Emily Barney
Now for the best piece, harvest and store this culinary prize! Garlic chives are popular across Asia and are widely used in recipes. Their taste enhances stir-fries, other vegetables, and more.
harvest
Garlic chives are ready for harvest approx. 8 weeks after sowing and 4 weeks after planting or when new growth is generated from older plants in spring. Fresh, young leaves have the best taste; older greens tend to be harsh. When harvesting, trim the leaves back up to 1 to 2 inches from the base.
Garlic scapes are the delicious flower stalks and are best done before the umbel opens. Individual flower buds and whole flowers are also edible and can be harvested if necessary. To harvest flowers and landscapes, cut the stems back to ground level.
storage
The leaves are kept in damp kitchen paper for a week or longer in the refrigerator if chopped and placed in ice cube trays in the freezer. Garlic chives lose their flavor as they dry and are best used fresh.
Troubleshooting
Garlic chive flowers, like other allies, are clustered umbels. Source: UnconventionalEmma
Garlic chives are mostly fine, but just in case here are a few things to look out for.
Growing problems
Like most plants, garlic chives don't like to compete with weeds for water and nutrients Keep the growing area weed-free.
Garlic will also be chives less productive When they mature, divide these clumps to rejuvenate the plants.
Pests
Onion flies are not put off by the strong scent of garlic chives. They lay eggs at the base of the plants and the hatching maggots feed on the bulbs. Cover the plants with insect screens to protect them from adult flies and apply predatory soil nematodes to deal with the maggots.
Thrips are another insect that isn't put off by the smell of garlic. These sap-sucking insects make plants unsightly and inedible. Spray with neem oil or insecticidal soap to keep the numbers down.
Allium Leaf Miner Larvae burrowed through the leaf membrane, leaving visible translucent attempts and destroyed roots and bulbs of leeks, garlic, and chives, often resulting in the death of the entire plant. The best line of defense is to cover the plants with an insect-proof net and use good crop rotation to avoid re-infection from overwintering pupae.
Diseases
Onion blightBotanically known as Stromatinia cepivora, it is a fungal disease that is stimulated by compounds emitted by onions and transmitted into contaminated soil. It is characterized by yellow, wilting leaves and rotting roots and bulbs that are covered in white, fluffy fungus and a black, seed-like growth. Once you have it, it's almost impossible to eradicate. In this case, prevention is better than cure. Do not grow related plants in previously contaminated sites and use good crop rotation.
Wrong mildew is a fungal disease that mainly affects the leaves, causing them to yellow and wither. Spray with copper-based fungicides or neem oil at the first sight of infection.
frequently asked Questions
Q: Are chives and garlic chives the same thing?
A: Chives and garlic chives look similar but are different types. Onion chives are called Allium schoenoprasum and onion flavor, while garlic chives are called Allium tuberosum and have a garlic-like taste.
Q: are garlic chives perennial?
A: Garlic chives are perennial and grow back every year.
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