Chives are grass like perennial herbs with a hollow centre that have a mild onion flavour. They grow to about 30cm tall by 30cm. They perk up salads, jacket potatoes with sour cream and make a lovely garnish for sprinkling on soups too. Best used fresh as cooking destroys their full flavour.
If left to flower the pretty purple ball shaped edible flowers can be separated into individual flowers and sprinkled on salads. Once they have flowered cut down to 5cm from ground level but they will be unlikely to produce chives until next year. Perhaps plant some of the chives in your garden bed as they are extremely attractive and the bees love them or leave a couple to flower in your veg patch.
Chives do not dry well so if you want to preserve them, chop up a few leaves and freeze them - ice cubes are ideal. A bowl of soup with a floating ice cube of chives looks the business.
An organic insecticide can be made - boil chives in water, allow to cool and pour into a spray bottle. Spray on pests. Chives are a good companion plant and thought to deter carrot fly away from carrots but 4 times more chives need to be sown than carrots to be effective. Plant them near roses to help against black spot. It is also thought to have antiseptic properties for humans.
