Too late to sow chives?

[cheops]

Is it too late to sow chive seeds. It’s not so much to have them for personal harvest but rather a patch of chives left to themselves for bees each year.

[keat63]

We bought a packet a while back, and I'm sure it said they take 2 years.

[cheops]

Hi Keat,
What I mean is is it too late in the year to successfully sow chives.

[Jay-ell]

Should be OK. My chive hedge is in full flower right now and the seedlings will probably pop up later on in the year.

It'll take a while for them to grow into a decent patch.

I have a hedge of chives planted at the edge of the path underneath the honeyberries. What I did to speed my hedge up was forst of all grow the chives in a nursery bed for the first year.

Then once the chives had grown big enough I transplanted them to their new home and planted them individually 1" apart. This gave every chive plenty of space to grow and divide, not just those on the outside. As each chive could divide and grow several times before bumping into the others it meant that the gaps filled in quickly and the final space space was filled alot quicker than if I had just planted a clump.

Bees love them and the hedge softens the edge along the path. Here's an old photo from last year. They had been in this spot for 1 year by then. Originally in a clump in a bed.



Of course, as the chive hedge is about 8" by 8' that was a lot of dibbling and separating chives but now that it's established I definitely think it was worth it - It's one of those cheery sights that peps you up as the bees are drawn to the chives, comfrey and blackberrries.

You could pop into the supermarket and get a couple of pots of those "Living herb" windowsill chives to plant out which will speed things along quite a bit. There about £1 a po so not too pricey really - just split them into individual bulbs and replant.

[keat63]

Whats the worst that can happen.

:-)

[cheops]

Jay-Ella thanks for such an informative and detailed reply. It was inspiration from a post you made a while back with your ‘hedge’ of chives that has made me determined to copy your hedge. It’s quite stunningly beautiful but more important it’s another little bit of bee heaven I can provide.
I have just bought a few packets of chive seeds which I was going to sow as my ‘hedge’ but now you’ve given me food for thought and am wondering should I establish a nursery chive bed first as you did. One question I do have - now your hedge is established can it be left alone or do you still need to keep lifting and dividing to maintain vigour?

[Martin H]

.

I have a hedge of chives planted at the edge of the path underneath the honeyberries. What I did to speed my hedge up was forst of all grow the chives in a nursery bed for the first year.

Then once the chives had grown big enough I transplanted them to their new home and planted them individually 1" apart. This gave every chive plenty of space to grow and divide, not just those on the outside.

I did exactly this a good few years ago in my first garden. One packet of seeds and after three years I had a path edge witn no gaps in it. A year later I was thinning it out and throwing plants away! Very decorative as well as useful.

So, back to the original question, I would sow the seed now in a pot and see what happens. In fact I'm going to have a rummage in my seed box, I'm sure there's an old packet in there somewhere...

.You could pop into the supermarket and get a couple of pots of those "Living herb" windowsill chives to plant out which will speed things along quite a bit.

I've tried this too. Unfortunately they turned out not to be "proper" chives; as the plants grew they developed flattened leaves and the flowers were white instead of pink and a different shape.

[nickdub]

OK for seeds now, but much easier to get someone who has a wodge growing to give a couple of trowel-fulls from one of their clumps.

[Jay-ell]

Jay-Ella thanks for such an informative and detailed reply. It was inspiration from a post you made a while back with your ‘hedge’ of chives that has made me determined to copy your hedge. It’s quite stunningly beautiful but more important it’s another little bit of bee heaven I can provide.

Thank you, it's nice to know I inspired someone

I have just bought a few packets of chive seeds which I was going to sow as my ‘hedge’ but now you’ve given me food for thought and am wondering should I establish a nursery chive bed first as you did. One question I do have - now your hedge is established can it be left alone or do you still need to keep lifting and dividing to maintain vigour?

I haven't lifted them yet. I may have to do this in a year or so, or possibly dig out and replant any patches that appear in the middle of the hedge but so far I haven't had to do anything to it.

I've tried this too. Unfortunately they turned out not to be "proper" chives; as the plants grew they developed flattened leaves and the flowers were white instead of pink and a different shape.

Sounds like they're Chinese Chives/Garlic Chives. I fancy making a second hedge of these on the other side of the path under the apples. Need to get the seeds as I only have a few plants and even with the 1" planting it's going to take ages to cover that edge.

[cheops]

OK for seeds now, but much easier to get someone who has a wodge growing to give a couple of trowel-fulls from one of their clumps.

Nickdub you have planted a seed of temptation into my head. A few miles away there is a field of chives all in neat rows the length of the field. Obviously being grown for a supermarket.

[Jay-ell]

Nickdub you have planted a seed of temptation into my head. A few miles away there is a field of chives all in neat rows the length of the field. Obviously being grown for a supermarket.

Remember to get the farmers permission first, it's not foraging if it's a crop
Plus any form of digging on land is illegal unless you have permission from the land owner/legal tennant

[cheops]

Yes of course Jay-ell. I’ve already bought the chive seeds so that’s the route i’ll take.

[nickdub]

Nickdub you have planted a seed of temptation into my head. A few miles away there is a field of chives all in neat rows the length of the field. Obviously being grown for a supermarket.

My mother-in-law was a member of a walking group, and one year they went through a field of sweetcorn on several occasions planted either side of a footpath - towards the end of Summer with the cobs looking good, several were purloined and taken home in anticipation of a marvelous fresh treat. In the end after boiling for 10 minutes no-one could manage to eat any at all as the cobs were still rock hard - turned out to be the sort which are grown purely as animal feed.

[elsie-scot]

Should be OK. My chive hedge is in full flower right now and the seedlings will probably pop up later on in the year.

It'll take a while for them to grow into a decent patch.

I have a hedge of chives planted at the edge of the path underneath the honeyberries. What I did to speed my hedge up was forst of all grow the chives in a nursery bed for the first year.

Then once the chives had grown big enough I transplanted them to their new home and planted them individually 1" apart. This gave every chive plenty of space to grow and divide, not just those on the outside. As each chive could divide and grow several times before bumping into the others it meant that the gaps filled in quickly and the final space space was filled alot quicker than if I had just planted a clump.

Bees love them and the hedge softens the edge along the path. Here's an old photo from last year. They had been in this spot for 1 year by then. Originally in a clump in a bed.

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Of course, as the chive hedge is about 8" by 8' that was a lot of dibbling and separating chives but now that it's established I definitely think it was worth it - It's one of those cheery sights that peps you up as the bees are drawn to the chives, comfrey and blackberrries.

You could pop into the supermarket and get a couple of pots of those "Living herb" windowsill chives to plant out which will speed things along quite a bit. There about £1 a po so not too pricey really - just split them into individual bulbs and replant.

Oh that is a hedge of beauty. We are working towards that. Mind you DD keeps eating all the flowers!