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rita_abend

Need Suggestions For Chives

rita_abend
15 years ago

Hi,

I am getting ready to order some new seeds. One seed that I am looking for is a specific variety of chives. Many years ago I received a chive plant from a friend that had the best chives! These chives were extremely thin and solid, and they did not have a garlic flavor. I am looking for that variety again.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Rita Abend

Comments (7)

  • stephen_albert
    15 years ago

    Sounds like you might be looking for garlic chives (Allium tuberosum), sometimes called Oriental garlic chives or Chinese chives. They have a solid, flat leaf and light garlic flavor. You should be able to find them in seed catalogs simply as garlic chives.

    Here is a link that might be useful: HarvestToTable.com

  • ksrogers
    15 years ago

    My chives (wild onion) are hollow and round. They grow from late summer through to late Spring. Mine set small bulbils cluster balls at the tips of stiff stalks in mid summer. The greens die out totally in the heat of summer. The onion in the soil only grows to about the size of a pea. I like snipuing fresh and using them that way as they have the most flavor. Right next to them I have garlic chives and they do have a noticable garlic taste, but not strong. They grow as blades like the ones mentioned above. In mid summer they set out clusters of small white flowers, that then turn into black seeds. I replant the new seeds after they get loose in the clusters.

  • rita_abend
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Hi Stephen,
    Thank you. I think I will give it a try!
    Rita
    Rita Abend

  • rita_abend
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Hi ksrogers,
    Thanks for the information. I will give the garlic chives a try.
    Rita
    Rita Abend

  • wally_1936
    15 years ago

    Garlic Chives have wide flat hollow leaves and are very easy to start, easier than Onion Chives. they will self seed. They will even grow in the lawn. I have way too many Garlic Chives seeds and am still trying to get onion chives to grow instead.

  • ksrogers
    15 years ago

    My wild onions are very hardy and every year near the end of summer, I pull off the small balls of tiny bulbs and crumble them into the nearby soil. They are growing all winter long. Garlic chives seemt to die out at the end of the summer, but if you collect the flower heads, you can get many black seeds from each garlic chive plant. As mentioned these two grow quite well right next to each other. My wild onions are at least 40 years old now, and have been moved twice, since my dad had planted them many years ago. I also have a shallot type walking onion with purple layers. These are also very hardy and once the tops drop onto soil and take root, they can get overcrowded within a year. Each top can have anywhere from 3 to 10 or more bulbils that are in a cluster. Some of them even start sprouting greens from the clusters. I also cut the green tops and use them as scallion, but they are much stronger tasting. These have also been growing here many years now, and every few years I relocate them so they can grow a bit better. Last summer, I gave away about 15 pounds of the small bulbil clusters to a local Agway store.

  • joannaw
    15 years ago

    I have an overabundance of garlic chives-- If anyone wants seeds, give me a holler.