One of the first things I planted here – at House Thorn – were chives.
I got them off a freecycle or plantcycle (same idea), back in the days when those lists were doing well here in Ithaca.
(The concept of either is that you post “I have this thing I don’t need anymore” or “I have this thing I need, does anyone have it?” I’ve used it to get: a scythe, cat litter buckets (Our cat litter comes in sort of cartons and I wanted to try cat litter bucket planters), air mattresses, a broken breadmaker… We’ve gotten rid of a safe, a burn barrel, a turtle sandbox…)
I also went and got the earliest-blooming crocuses that were available.
Of course, since we moved into the house in mid-September, we discovered the next Spring that the people who had owned the house before us had been of a similar mind – there are spring blooming bulbs all over this place, so it’s a riot of color from the first thaw through the end of day-lily season.
But CHIVES.
I hate March, I’m afraid. Really dislike the month. (T was explaining why to a friend and he summarized it as “the color.”) It’s grey and muddy! And it’s a tease; you want to plant but you can’t.
The last freeze date in our area is mid-May, just for reference.
But CHIVES. Chives are food. They are fresh and they really taste good only fresh. And when the snow is just starting to melt, when it’s just thinking about melting, then you have chives.
This little bit of green pops up in your garden (I have an “invasives” bed I’ve mentioned before, where I let various chives and mints duke it out. I tried oregano once and I ended up with hybridized mint-regano.) and it’s like All Is Not Lost. Things Will Grow Again. Here, have some Food.
It’s amazing. Alliums are a gift and we should cherish them forever.
🧅
Want more?
🧅
Other Chive Posts:
Gardening! March 23, 2012
Life in the Country, Tuesday edition (Actually Monday edition, just really late). March 21, 2012
On Chives April 9, 2014
Spring! Chives – May 16, 2013
Chives are excellent. Chinese chives are a nice change from regular chives, have you tried them?
I like allium flowers a lot, too.
I am trying to get Chinese chives to grow nearby the normal-chives, and they’ve come back this year, so I have hope.
Chives. <nod> I have a small pot of them that has put up with a lot of abuse and neglect over the years, and somehow survived, and I am very much looking forward to putting them in the ground this spring. I hope they thrive.
Chives are amazingly durable. I’m hoping they escape and go feral the way my mint has!