Allium tuberosum
garlic chives
Common names: Chinese chives, Allium tuberosum
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Spacing
- 15 cm, rows 20 cm
- Lifespan
- Perennial
- Sowing
- Mar–May
- Harvest
- Jun–Sep
- Hardiness
- Hardy down to −15 °C
- Water need
- Medium
Photo: Kurt Stüber [1] · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
This description was machine-translated.
Description
Garlic chives is a hardy perennial whose flat leaves taste mild garlic, an elegant alternative to chives in Asian cuisine. In late summer fragrant white star-shaped flowers open, which bees love and you can eat. Once planted, it reliably returns each year.
Care instructions
Sow from March in a pot or directly from May in a sunny to partially shaded spot with loose soil. Cut the leaves continuously with scissors throughout the season from June to September; they will regrow quickly. Divide the clump every few years in spring to keep it vigorous.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
SowingMar–May
HarvestJun–Sep
Germination
- Soil temperature
- from 10 °C, ideally 18 °C
- Days to sprout
- 10 to 21 days
- Light
- Needs darkness to sprout
- Sowing depth
- 1 cm
- How to start
- Start indoors, then plant out
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
loamy, humus-rich, well-drained, moist
Garlic chives like humus-rich, loamy soil that is evenly moist but well drained. They cannot tolerate waterlogging at all; a sandy portion improves drainage.
Feeding
Light feeder
Months
Mar–Apr
In spring, work in a thin layer of compost shallowly. That is enough as basic nutrition. If you harvest often, you can add some horn shavings on the surface in summer. Feed sparingly: too much nitrogen makes the leaves soft and weakens the flavour.
Overwintering
Garlic chives are a hardy perennial: the above-ground shoots die back in autumn, and the rhizomes in the soil overwinter without any trouble or protection and reliably sprout again from March/April. Do not keep the soil too wet over winter, otherwise the roots can rot; in a container, place the plant in a sheltered spot against the house wall so the root ball does not freeze through.
Propagation
Methods
- From seed
- Division
- Offsets
Garlic chives can be propagated in three ways:
Sowing: Sow in seed trays from late March to April (germination temperature 18 to 20 °C, germination time about 14 to 28 days) or directly in the open bed from April, about 1 cm deep. An early start on the windowsill is possible. Prick out the seedlings after 6 to 8 weeks and plant them in the bed from mid-May, once frost is no longer a risk. In the first year you should let the plant keep growing and not harvest it; it needs time to establish.
Division: Older clumps form dense tufts and should be divided every 3 to 4 years. This rejuvenates the plant and encourages strong new growth. The plant should be at least 3 years old for this. Divide either in early spring before growth starts or in autumn. Carefully lift the clump, divide it into 2 to 3 sections with a sharp spade or knife and replant the pieces about 30 cm apart. Water well.
Bulbils/daughter bulbs: Allium tuberosum forms small daughter bulbs underground via rhizomes, which spread over the years. In autumn or early spring you can separate these offsets when replanting and set them elsewhere. This is the fastest method for new plants.
Companion planting
Good neighbors
carrot family (Apiaceae)
Umbellifers and alliums confuse each other's pests (carrot fly, onion fly).
For example CeleriacDillParsleyFlorence fennelCorianderCelery (Stalk Celery) and 20 more species in the catalogue
Source: classic companion planting (DACH-Gartenpraxis)
rose family (Rosaceae)
You can plant garlic and chives under strawberries and roses; their scent repels aphids and other pests.
For example AppleRaspberryPearAroniaAlpine strawberryBlackberry and 57 more species in the catalogue
Source: Bio-Gärtnerei Mixed Culture Practice
Rather not
legume family (Fabaceae)
particularly well establishedAllium species inhibit the nitrogen‑fixing rhizobia of legumes through their root exudates, which slows their growth.
For example Pole beanBroad beanSnow peaWrinkled peaRunner beanLima bean and 34 more species in the catalogue
Source: basic crop‑rotation rule
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Some of these explanations were machine-translated.
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