You did everything right, you planted and grew your chives, fertilized, gave it enough water, placed it in the right spot to have the right number of sunlight hours, and you waited for the right moment for your perfect chives will be ready to harvest.
You spent a lot of energy and time but do you really know how to harvest chives without killing the plant?
Most people, both professionals and hobbyists gardeners, don’t know how to harvest chives the right way.
Let’s waste no more time and learn how to harvest your perfect chives. For this you will need a pair of scissors cut it and a knife to chop it.
How do I harvest chives?
To keep the plant re-growing follow those steps:
- Use a gardening scissors in harvesting chives. After qualifying which plants are ready for harvest, you could start cutting the chives two inches away from the soil. Never cut it from the top.
- Take the scissors and remove the top from the stalks you just harvested.
- Chop as many as you need with a knife or a special herb scissors, and use it however you want.
- Store the remaining chives stalks you harvested and put it in a bag or a box in the freezer.
The remaining parts buried in the soil would help in growing another set of chive plants for the next harvest.
Also, do not harvest the whole plant at one time. Make sure that you leave a reasonable number of stems in the soil for future use.
You could actually harvest three to four times a year, depending on the variety of chives you used.
Flowers could also be eaten, so you could make also harvest this. Moreover, you should also remove the flowers since they carry a lot of seeds and it could dominate your whole garden when spread.
Lastly, you should also divide the chive leaves every 3 to 4 years to split up big plants. Letting them have their own space could result in better growth.
When is the best time to harvest chives?
Harvesting chives actually depends on the variety of chives. But generally, chives that are seven to ten inches tall are ready for harvest.
Usually you can start harvesting 30 days after transplanting or about 60 days after sowing from seeds.
After 30 or 60 days, depends on who you decided to plant you chives, they should reach to 6 inches height. That’s your first sign you can start harvesting,
The best time on the year to harvest is usually midsummer until spring. Since this is a perennial plant, you won’t have to replant it again to harvest for the next harvest season.
What is the best way to store the chives that I have harvested?
After harvesting, wash the stems thoroughly to clean the chives from dirt and other gardening debris.
Then, air dry the chives. Make sure that it is a hundred percent dried out to avoid mold growth.
Place the herbs inside your refrigerator to ensure freshness for the next five to seven days.
