Chives: useful greens or beautiful flowers? Both! Agrotechnics of growing onion chives Schnitt onion honey plant cultivation from seeds

In German, "chives" refers to a plant that is intended for cutting leaves. Interestingly, this culture in the people has different names. So, in Portugal it is called "English onion", and in the southern part of Russia - "tribulka". In some countries, chives have been given the name "winter bush".

Chives are a seed-grown perennial that belongs to the onion family. Its leaves look like arrows, they are very thin and long (about 15–20 cm long). The color of the arrows of this culture is usually bright green. The bulb of chives is oblong and small, and the roots are filiform.

This plant is native to China and Eastern Siberia. It was from these territories that the cultivation of a unique culture began, capable of adapting to almost any growing conditions. Now the cultivation of chives is happening everywhere. Usually the cultivation of this crop from seeds is produced in small volumes. Perhaps this is due to the fact that many do not appreciate the positive properties of the plant or do not know how to care for it.

Benefits of chives

The culture is very useful due to the large number of vitamins included in its composition. Chives are also rich in minerals - copper, potassium, magnesium, selenium, calcium and others. It contains vitamins such as K, C, E, A and B. Onions also contain many disaccharides, monosaccharides and proteins.

The specific taste and medicinal qualities of chives are determined by the essential oils included in it. Inside, this culture is recommended to be consumed fresh. Heat treatment can minimize all the useful properties and substances in the composition of chives, as well as destroy its taste and pleasant aroma.

Plant features

In garden beds, gardeners grow chives as a perennial crop. You can also grow it outside the garden, in a damp place. The thin leaves of this plant create a contrast with other horticultural crops. Some attach special importance to this and plant onions, choosing an environment for it in such a way that a good natural composition is obtained. Chives look great when planted in groups, for example, with a cuff and a chives, or in a monoborder. A mixture of onion varieties with lilac and white shades of flowers in the border looks spectacular. A rock garden with chives also looks good.

Regardless of the planting site, chives will be an excellent honey plant and a wonderful garden decoration. It is believed that this culture favorably affects other plants in the garden. For example, planting this plant will drive carrot fly away from carrots and protect bushes and trees from harmful fungus. Also, the cultivation of this crop is able to protect roses from spotting, gooseberries from downy mildew, and apple trees from scab.

The following plant varieties are recognized as the most suitable for growing in the garden:

• "Chemal";
• "Medonos";
• "Siberian";
• "Bohemia";
• "Velta";
• "Prague";
• "Moscow precocious".

The vast majority of varieties of this crop have thin and spicy-tasting leaves. The base from which the onion leaves grow is usually juicy and tasty. Therefore, with a strong growth of culture, you can dig out part of the bush without damage and eat it. Shortly after flowering, chives usually begin to coarsen. In this case, it is recommended to cut it at the root to obtain a fresh crop of young stems. But often it is not recommended to carry out such a procedure: it is believed that it depletes the plant.

If you intend to get seeds from a plant, then you should not cut off either the arrows with inflorescences or the leaves. If the bushes of the plant in the garden bed are already 2 years old, but they can be dug up and put in the refrigerator. The plant will need to rest for a while at a temperature of 0 to +4 degrees Celsius. After that, with the onset of winter, you can plant the culture in pots at home and put it on the windowsill. However, one must understand that, despite the care, the culture when growing at home is short-lived. With the onset of spring, the bushes can be transplanted again into open ground at their summer cottage. Thus, you can enjoy fresh green onions throughout the year.

Growing from seeds and further care

Chives should be planted from fresh seeds that have not expired. It is necessary to sow in the middle or end of April, after the snow has completely melted.

Planting seeds is recommended in areas with drained and loose soil. As a rule, the vast majority of onion varieties grow well on loamy and sandy soils. Planting seeds on the sunny side is most preferable, on which this crop will give a rich harvest, without requiring special care. Growing from seed is not recommended on sandy soil: due to poor moisture retention, it can be detrimental to the crop.

Before planting chives seeds in the ground, it is necessary in a special way. For this purpose, it should be pre-fertilized with compost or humus. If possible, it is recommended to additionally add mineral fertilizers.

When planting seeds in open ground, it is necessary to deepen no more than 2 cm. It is advised to plant seeds in rows, keeping at intervals of 30 cm. It is recommended to mulch the soil with humus or peat.

As soon as the first shoots appear, the plants are advised to feed with any of the complex fertilizers. As seedlings grow, crop care should include thinning, since the plant can grow strongly during the summer season.

Further care for chives is quite simple. As a rule, it includes:

• regular watering;
• soil loosening;
• weeding from weeds.

In addition, do not forget that it is necessary to include mowing under the root after flowering is completed in the mandatory care of the plant. The cultivation of new feathers in this chives occurs quickly enough, and by the end of the summer the culture will again become decorative.

Application for cooking

The arrows of this culture have a sharp taste, but at the same time they are fragrant and juicy. In cooking, this plant is used to give dishes a special piquancy. Specialist chefs recommend adding this type of plant to dishes prepared with onions.

Fresh shoots and greens are most appreciated by culinary specialists. After some time, if the chives crop was not harvested from the garden, then its greens will coarsen and become less tasty. You can add this plant to salads of fresh tomatoes and cucumbers. Some cooks add to vitamin salads not only young chives, but also its edible inflorescences. This will give the finished dish a light and pleasant aroma. Well suited culture for dishes from potatoes, legumes and meat, as well as soups

Due to its appearance, the culture is often used to decorate culinary delights. For example, it goes well with light salads or sandwiches.

Outcome

Chives are a useful crop, growing from seeds and caring for which are not particularly difficult. This plant has gained popularity among gardeners due to its unpretentiousness and availability.

Growing this crop in the garden has a beneficial effect on other crops, scaring away pests from them. This plant can become a real decoration of the garden plot due to its appearance.

chives- a food plant, a member of the onion family. This type of onion has thread-like roots, bright green leaves, greens bloom for several weeks with purple flowers (see photo).

From the German language, the name chives is translated as "a plant intended for cutting green leaves." In Italy and Portugal, greens are known as "English onions", and in Siberia they are known as "chives". Siberia, Mongolia and China are considered the birthplace of greenery.

Chives adapt well to natural conditions, but despite this, they grow it in small volumes, which is due to the ignorance of most people about this product. This type of onion is grown for two purposes: eating and decorative.

Varieties

• Albion - has beautiful green leaves, with a slight wax coating. Albion is considered a mid-season variety, grown for its greenery. This chives tastes spicy.
• Bohemia - semi-sharp, pleasant taste, recommended for growing in a summer cottage. You can grow a variety of onions for 3-5 years.
• Chemal is a spicy, spicy taste, it is grown as early spring greens on a feather.

Growing: planting and care

Growing chives is not difficult for people who are at least a little versed in gardening and horticulture. An unpretentious plant will not only save your family from spring beriberi, but also decorate the garden. This type of onion is grown, as a rule, for the sake of green feathers, which I use both for medicinal and gastronomic purposes. In addition, chives are an excellent honey plant.

A plant is planted from seeds, although the chisel is able to multiply vegetatively. It is better to plant seeds in the garden in April: onions are cold-resistant and germinate well at this time. Before sowing, onion seeds should be soaked for a day in water, changing the water at least three times a day. After soaking, the seeds are dried. This onion should be planted in rows at short intervals. Onion care consists of regular watering, as the chisel is moisture-loving. A good harvest can only be obtained with sufficient moisture.

This type of onion grows very quickly, usually after a few weeks you can cut the first shoots of greens. The first year after planting onions, feathers are not cut; 2-3-year-old plants are well suited for forcing greens. Feathers are cut with a sharp knife. After the feathers are cut, new ones grow in their place, by the summer the leaves become coarse and become unsuitable for consumption.

At home, chives can be grown on the windowsill. To do this, it is enough to plant the bulb in the soil for the winter. It is necessary to harvest onions for planting in the fall, the bulbs must be planted in boxes with earth. The plant should be placed in a warm place and watered regularly. Chives feathers grow even faster than onions. Bright green leaves are formed only with sufficient light, a box of chives must be placed in the brightest place, you can also add several hours of artificial lighting.

Beneficial features

The beneficial properties of chives are due to the presence of phytoncides - natural substances that are rich in members of the onion family. This allows us to consider this green as an effective prevention of seasonal diseases. In addition, onions contain a complex of essential amino acids, minerals and vitamins.

Chives are superior in vitamin composition and medicinal properties to onions. Riboflavin, thiamine, vitamins B and P, manganese, potassium, magnesium, iron, copper - this is far from the complete composition of this wonderful medicinal plant.

The calorie content of chives is 30 kilocalories per 100 g, which allows you to add chives to the diet of people who want to lose weight. Chives will dilute the diet menu and saturate the body with vitamins.

Use in cooking

In cooking, chives can be used intentionally or as a substitute for onions in recipes. The taste qualities of chives are superior to all other types of onions. Fresh greens are widely used to decorate dishes; they decorate ordinary sandwiches and snacks. With the help of chives, you can tie bags of pancakes with different fillings. Many housewives prepare chives for future use: they dry it, salt it, and even ferment it.

This onion is known as a seasoning that is added to salads, fish, vegetable dishes. Fresh cucumbers and tomatoes go great with chives. Simple and tasty dishes are made from potatoes and chives.

Chives are a great filling for pies. According to the recipe, for the filling, finely chop the onion, add melted butter and finely chopped eggs. Of course, chives can be replaced with another type of onion, but chefs say that of all types of green onions, chives are the most suitable.

The greens of this type of onion begin to coarsen by the summer, which makes it unsuitable for fresh consumption. It is in early spring that chives have all their taste and medicinal benefits. In order to keep the chisel longer, it is frozen. You can freeze onions directly in bunches, or you can finely chopped them: this way the plant will not lose its properties and improve the taste of salads, soups and even omelettes.

Dried chives are included in many culinary seasonings. Spicy mixtures with chives usually include other herbs and herbs: rosemary, parsley, dill, basil. You can buy fresh herbs or seasonings with chives in a supermarket or vegetable shops.

The benefits of chives and treatment

The benefits of chives are noticeable in atherosclerosis. This type of onion helps to strengthen the cardiovascular system, it recommended for people who have suffered a heart attack.

There is evidence that chives help with diseases of the kidneys and liver, as well as problems with the gallbladder. It is a mild aphrodisiac and can be used in combination with more effective drugs for the treatment of sexual impotence.

Onions will help people with disorders in the gastrointestinal tract. The chisel stimulates appetite, this is facilitated by the presence of essential oil in the feathers of the plant. The low calorie content of the product and its nutritional properties make it possible to use chives in dietary nutrition.

Chives will help restore the body after seasonal colds, strengthen the immune system.

Harm of chives and contraindications

Chives can cause harm to the body if consumed excessively. With gastric diseases, increased acidity of gastric juice, pancreatitis, chives are not recommended.

Chives are a very interesting and long-lived green, loved by many summer residents. Once planting this magnificent onion, in the future you can not worry about onion salad dressing. Let's figure out how to plant chives: growing and care, photos of grown curtains in the garden.

Chives: cultivation and care, photo in the garden

Chives (Állium schoenoprásum) aka skoroda, chive, sibulet, Siberian onion - an inhabitant of river valleys and wet meadows. In garden culture, it can be found in India or China, as well as in Russia and the USA.

The perennial plant is grown for its vitamin greens, which are mostly suitable for eating in salads. Schnitt is a rather unpretentious culture, in comparison with the same leek. It is absolutely undemanding to the quality of the soil, although it prefers moist and light soils.

The leaves are fistulate, cylindrical, thin (2-5 mm wide), smooth, usually shorter than the stem. The stem is 15-50 cm high. The inflorescences are usually pink, but there is a white-flowering form Album. The bulbs are small, 0.75-1 cm conical, attached to a short rhizome. Without dividing and transplanting, it forms thick sods. There are many varieties of chives, they all differ in juicy tender feathers:

The nuances of growing

Being planted in a sparse shade, the onion will not lose much in yield, but it grows well in the sun. In a dense shade, the curtain first crumbles strongly, then falls out.

Landing and care

The predecessor of chives can be almost any crop, including cabbage, legumes, nightshade, cereals. Like shallots, this onion works great on carrot beds, repelling pests with its smell.

Schnitt is undemanding to care. By and large, it is enough to water it in a timely manner, without bringing the soil to complete drying. Weeding is possible for the first couple of years after planting - then the onion itself displaces uninvited guests from the garden, forming a dense turf. Loosening should also not be abused - a couple of times per season it is enough to go along the row with a flat cutter, and when the carrots rise, mulch the aisles.

Perennial chives practically do not reduce yields over time, but will gratefully respond to top dressing with organic matter with the addition of EMok. And yet the main thing is the constant mulching of the beds with organic matter.

Chives: growing from seed

Schnitt sowing is carried out in two stages with an interval of a month - the first time until May 10, the second - until June 10. The seeds are soaked in warm water, the next day they are slightly dried and sown in open ground with ribbons at 30 cm intervals.

Autumn sowing is also practiced under a layer of leaves or sawdust. The depth of autumn sowing is 2 cm. Also common is such a method of propagation of chives as dividing the bush. Each segment after division must have at least 8 small bulbs. It is optimal to divide plants before or after the active growing season - in early spring or late summer.

The sown chive blossoms in the 2nd year after sowing. On the plants from which you plan to collect seeds, neither the leaves nor the flower arrows need to be cut off so that the seeds accumulate a guaranteed supply of plastic substances.

Application and benefits

Chives shoots in early spring, when there is still little other greenery, will be most welcome to the family table. In cooking, this variety is used very widely due to its excellent spicy taste and high decorativeness of the leaves. Schnitt is beautiful in salads, effective in decorating and fortifying soups and stews, it makes a unique filling for pies.

High culinary value is combined with amazing benefits in this plant. Schnitt is rich in vitamins and essential oils, strengthens the body, improves immunity, strengthens the heart muscle.

As you can see, growing and caring for chives is not burdensome, it will always be in demand in the country. Well, his growing curtains are pleasant - they can harmoniously border ecological beds, right?

In a fairly large and diverse onion family, there is a culture that surprisingly combines excellent taste and decorative qualities. This is a favorite of many gardeners chives - frost-resistant, unpretentious and fruitful.

Description

It is known as the bow skoroda, English, rezun or chisel. The geography of its growth is extensive, although China and the territory of Mongolia are considered to be the homeland. Schnitt grows in Kazakhstan and America, in India and throughout Europe, in Siberia and central Russia. It perfectly adapts to a variety of climatic conditions, endures both heat and low temperatures, wintering excellently under the snow.

The chives are grown for their juicy, spicy greens. The plant is perennial, grows in a bush, the length of the awl-shaped leaves reaches 20-40 cm. The oblong onion has a very small size, it is not suitable for food. Roots are small and white.

In the second year, the plant throws out arrows-peduncles. In appearance, they resemble umbrellas, which are collected in a spherical or oval bundle. Color: from pale pink to lilac and purple. This is exactly how chives bloom - beautiful and bright, which is why it is often used in landscape design, for decorating flower beds, flower beds, mixborders. In the "caps" of the onion, a large number of black seeds are formed. They are angular in shape and very small in size. You can stock up on your own seed material for planting by collecting chisel flowers in the second year.

Culture Features

Rezanets differs from other members of the family in the following characteristics:

• lack of a standard bulb;
• very short growing season;
• beautiful bloom.

Like many other perennial onions grown on a feather, chives also have excellent taste, while its greens are characterized by a special piquancy and pleasant pungency. Schnitt also does not have a pungent odor; after eating it, there is no bitter aftertaste left, and this is why Western European cuisine cooks love the onion so much.

How useful is chives?

First of all, it is valuable as a green crop. Tender and juicy chives grow in early spring, and it is used in salads, soups, main courses, as a filling for delicious pies. The young leaves of this onion have an excellent presentation, but only if the cut is carried out on time. When outgrown, the feather coarsens and loses its qualities.

Chili greens contain a large number of useful trace elements, carotene, vitamin C, as well as important amino acids (lysine, histidine and others). Due to the presence of phytoncides, chives, like many of its counterparts, is actively used to prevent various infectious diseases. It improves immunity, is useful for the kidneys, gallbladder.

Another important property of culture is the ability to help in the fight against various garden misfortunes. Many gardeners, knowing that chives are detrimental to fungal infections, plant them closer to fruit trees, roses, and gooseberries. In the beds, it is recommended to sow it near carrots, and all because onion and carrot flies do not like the smell of this onion.

But bees are very fond of chives, or rather, its flowers. The plant is an excellent honey plant, and breeders even bred a special variety, which is called “Medonos”. Also, this spicy onion is used to decorate plots, getting a double benefit: greens for food and beautiful flowers.

Chives: growing features

Gardeners grow this crop in various ways and, judging by the reviews, onions, with proper care, always please with good harvests. Each method has its own characteristics, certain "pluses" and "minuses".

Sowing seeds in open ground

Sow chisel seeds in spring, in April or in summer, in July, before carefully preparing the soil on the ridges. Seed material, like many other onions, is very small, seedlings appear weak and require mandatory care.

Sowing is carried out in grooves (depth up to 1.5 cm), then the seeds are lightly sprinkled with earth, slightly compacted. In order for the weeds not to drown out the plantings, you can mulch the soil with sawdust, peat, rice husks.

Growing seeds on ridges is a rather troublesome method, so gardeners still prefer to propagate chives vegetatively.

Division of onion bushes

Skoroda multiplies rapidly, its delenki take root perfectly, and such a technique can be carried out either in autumn or early spring.

What should be done:

• determine which chisel bushes are suitable for division (it is better to choose two-three-year-old plants);
• carefully dig a bush;
• divide it into 3-4 parts (so that each has roots);
• prepare small holes in the garden, spill them with water;
• we transplant the chives into the holes vertically, then compact the soil, and water it again.

Up to 25-30 plants can be planted per square meter.

seedling method

If desired, the availability of time, and most importantly - space on the windows of the apartment, such an onion can be grown with seedlings.

Sowing time is mid-March. What should be done:

Seedling care is normal. Watering, loosening the soil, one or two top dressings (but not necessary). Plants are planted in open ground after about a month and a half (at the end of April), in holes.

This method is good because already in the first summer it will be possible to cut juicy greens.

Chives grown through seedlings are distinguished by high-quality feathers and good yields. And next year, a two-year-old onion in the garden can be divided and planted.

Care

Schnitt grows well on any soil, excluding acidic ones. In this case, it is necessary to carry out their liming or add dolomite flour to the soil. The culture is not demanding to care, but is responsive to regular abundant watering. If there is not enough moisture in the soil, the chisel feather will be rough.

All the basic methods of agricultural technology are simple:

• weeding;
• loosening;
• thinning;
• fertilization.

The choice of beds for planting chives is done taking into account the fact that it will grow in one place for several years. It is advisable to prepare the ridges in the fall, then it is better to apply fertilizers. During the growing season of schnitt, it does not need to be fed frequently, one feeding per summer is enough. What to use:

• mullein infusion;
• infusion of bird droppings;
• phosphate and potash fertilizers;
• complex.

Sometimes onions are exposed in chives, so to save them from the rays of the sun, humus is added to them.

Row spacing and weeding are a must, especially when the onion is just growing. Otherwise, the weeds will drown out the planting of the chisel, and there will be no harvest.

Harvest

Cut off the feather as it grows, while it is juicy and tender. Usually in the summer season, up to three cuts are made. If these plants are supposed to be grown next year, then the last cut is performed no later than mid-August. This is necessary so that the onion goes under the snow stronger and has a good winter.

Greens can be stored in perforated plastic bags in the bottom section of the refrigerator. Also, the feather is dried, salted, pickled.

Disease and pest control

Skoroda is resistant to various diseases inherent in this family. But, despite this, we must not forget about the measure of prevention. What is important:

• observe crop rotation;
• prevent waterlogging of the soil;
• remove weeds, all plant residues from the beds;
• carry out regular inspections of the bow.

If the bushes are affected by powdery mildew (the appearance of a white coating on the leaves and the feather withering), all diseased plants must be immediately removed, and then the chives should be treated with fungicides. The same measures are taken for rust (brown spots appear on the leaves), as well as for damage to plants by onion thrips.

To get a good harvest, you need to use quality seeds. The most productive varieties can be ordered on the official website "Gardens of Russia". Large selection of varieties for every taste.

It is necessary to process the chisel bushes strictly according to the instructions, while the feather should not be eaten.

Forcing a chisel

This culture is excellent for forcing. To do this, in the middle of autumn, you need to dig a couple of onion bushes (you don’t need to shake off the ground from the roots), cut off the leaves and store them in a box in a cool room (you can in a dry basement).

The temperature should not be higher than + 2ºС, the storage time is about two to three weeks. After a dormant period, the bushes are planted in separate pots and left until forcing in the basement. Watering is needed only if the clod of earth in the container is dry.

In December, the onions are taken out into the heat, they provide dim lighting, ventilation and watering. If everything is done correctly, the transplanted plant will grow and after about two and a half weeks you can cut the greens. When peduncles appear, it is better to break them out, as they slow down the growth of the feather and reduce the yield.

They also practice growing from seeds on the windowsill, but in this case, additional lighting of the plants is necessary.

Characteristics of some varieties

Among the most popular are chives Medonos (see photo), fruitful Bohemia, cold-resistant Siberian.

• honey plant

The variety is mid-season, ripening time - after 75 days. Differs in high foliage, very friendly growth of the feather in early spring. Greens have excellent taste qualities, are used mainly for salads. Feature of the variety: resistance to peronosporosis.

• Bohemia

Productive, vigorous variety. The greens are tender, very juicy, with a pleasant semi-sharp taste. The plant is powerful, gives high yields in one place for four years, then a mandatory transplant is needed. Gives excellent results when grown from seed.

• Siberian

This perennial chives is cold-resistant, as well as powerful and long (up to 50-60 cm) leaves. The pen has a light green color, the taste of greenery is pungent.

• Prague

The greens of this onion do not have a strong spiciness, so those who like more savory tastes will like it. The variety is productive, early ripe. The feather is long, up to 40-50 cm, the color is dark green.

• Chemal

Another variety of chisel has a feather length of up to 50 cm, the total weight of leaves on one bush is up to 500-600 grams. The leaves are green, with a slight wax coating. Chemal is best grown vegetatively, dividing in the fall. The variety is registered in the State Register.

Today I want to continue talking about the large onion family. In previous articles, we examined the issues of growing onions from and from

Onions are an annual crop, but among the onion family there are also perennial onions, such as: chives, slime onions, multi-tiered onions.

I have been growing all these onions for several years now and I am very pleased with them, as they are tasty, can grow all year round, are unpretentious and very useful.

They, as soon as the snow melts, rush into growth and give us the first vitamin greens.

In this article, we will talk about soft and delicate in taste, which feels great both in the country house and in a city apartment. And it looks no worse than flowers, but it is still edible and useful.

Thin, tubular, awl-shaped feathery leaves taste very tender and less pungent than onions.

chives it has a high yield due to its ability to grow very quickly: from one bulb planted in spring, a rather voluminous bush already grows by autumn.

This bow is capable of producing up to 50-70 shoots the next year after planting, that is, increasing its mass by 50 or more times!

The length of the leaves of an adult schnitt reaches 35-40 cm, and each shoot produces 4-6 leaves.

Although chives can grow up to 8-10 years, nevertheless, a better crop is obtained from plants grown for no more than 4 years, since in the future it becomes smaller and begins to shoot massively.

The plant is cold- and drought-resistant, can winter in open ground, and endure late frosts down to minus 3-4 degrees in spring.

Chives are very useful in the garden, as they have insecticidal properties that repel aphids, earth fleas on tomatoes, cabbage and flower plants.

Also, by planting chives near carrots, we can protect them from the carrot fly. Planting chives successfully prevent the appearance of fungal diseases on fruit and ornamental trees and shrubs.

Chives, like any other early greens, are very useful for spring beriberi, for general strengthening of the immune system. It is also good to use for the prevention of diseases of the liver, kidneys, gallbladder.

It is also useful for people who have suffered a myocardial infarction and those who suffer from diseases of the cardiovascular system.

Chives are also an excellent honey plant that is often grown for ornamental purposes, such as a wonderful border plant for a garden path or flower bed.

It begins to bloom in May and pleases us with its lilac flowers for a very long time.

Site selection and garden preparation

Although chives are undemanding to the soil, they are best planted on fertile, slightly acidic, moderately moist soil. In this case, it will grow well for several years in one place.

Try to prepare a bed for onions in advance, since autumn, in a well-lit place.

Chives are advised to plant after crops such as cucumbers or potatoes.

Since autumn, we have been adding organic and mineral fertilizers for digging at the rate of 1 sq.m - 4-6 kg of manure, 2-3 kg of humus, 20-30 g of superphosphate and 15-20 g of potassium salt.

And if the soil is too acidic, then add another 250-450 g of lime. In the spring, before planting, it is necessary to add another 15-20 g of nitrogen fertilizer (ammonium nitrate).

Propagation of chives

There are several ways to propagate chives: firstly, if you already have it growing, then by dividing 2-4-year-old bushes; secondly - seeds.

It is best to divide the bushes in the spring or at the end of August.

We dig up a chives bush and shorten the leaves to 15 cm, the roots to 5-8 cm. Then we divide it into parts so that each has at least 2-6 bulbs.

Sods are planted at a distance of 20 cm from each other, and between rows - 30-60 cm and watered well.

With the second method of propagating chives, we can sow the seeds in early spring (late April-early May) directly on the garden bed or in seedling boxes.

We pre-soak the seeds for two days in warm water, then dry them and sow them in grooves to a depth of 1-1.5 cm. We make the distance between the grooves about 45 cm.

Seedlings appear in about two to three weeks. After the emergence of seedlings, we thin out the plantings.

If you grow chives in seedlings, then at about 50-60 days of age, seedlings must be planted in open ground.

Seeds can also be sown before winter, in which case we do not soak them and sow them dry, and we must mulch the rows with peat or humus.

Care and feeding

The main care for planting chives is timely loosening, weeding, fertilizing and watering.

Weeding does not take much time, as the chives grow very quickly and completely drown out the weeds.

But you need to water it well so that the feathers stay green and juicy longer.

Also, it is desirable to feed onions 2-3 times per season. In the spring, in the phase of 2-3 true leaves, we feed the plants with mineral fertilizers from the following calculation: per 1 sq. m - 10-15 g of ammonium nitrate and superphosphate, 8-10 g of potassium chloride.

You can add some mineral fertilizers to the solution. If you want to get greens early, then in early spring, before the soil thaws, cover the bed with a film and you will get vitamin greens 12-15 days earlier than usual.

In addition, the leaves will be much longer and much more tender.

I also want to draw your attention to the fact that in the process of growing chives bushes, bulbs may be exposed. They must be periodically sprinkled with humus.

Cleaning and storage

The young leaves are most often used as food in chives. They can be cut partially or completely 2-3 times a season before the arrows appear.

However, at a young age, the arrows are still tender and very juicy, and if they are cut early, along with the leaves, the quality of the product does not deteriorate.

Plants can also be harvested by separating some of the bulbs with green leaves from the bush. The rest of the bush will need to be fed.

Young greens can be dried and stored in airtight jars. It can also be salted for the winter or frozen.

Cut leaves can be stored for 10-15 days in the refrigerator in tightly sealed plastic bags.

In order for the plant to overwinter well, it is better to stop collecting leaves in the second half of summer, since chives need to accumulate reserve nutrients.

In late autumn, dead leaves must be removed so that pests do not overwinter in them.

Forcing chives

Chives are good for winter forcing. To do this, in October we dig up 2-3-year-old plants, then cut off the leaves on them and transplant them with a large clod of earth into large flower pots or other containers.

Since chives require a dormant period, with the onset of frost we transfer it to the basement, where we store it at a temperature of 0 ... -1 degrees.

In winter, we bring the containers into a warm room and water regularly. After 25-30 days, it will be possible to cut the green leaves for food.

If you do not have a basement, then dug out sods can be stored in the refrigerator at a temperature of 0 ... + 4 degrees, and in winter they can already be planted in containers and placed on the windowsill.

In home warmth, with good lighting, chives will intensely produce fresh greens all winter.

And it will be very pleasant for us to watch (while there is frost and snow outside the window) how quickly it grows and stretches upward.

That, perhaps, is all that I wanted to tell you about chives, and if such a wonderful onion does not yet grow on your site, then I advise you to definitely plant it, you will not regret it.

See you soon, dear readers!