Garden Wisdom Blog — chives

The theme of this Twenty-one Days of Green campaign is to encourage everyone to Commit to Grow just one item that might otherwise be purchased at a grocery store. We love using chives as a place to start. To produce a little container of chives is incredibly simple, but this simple act resonates in surprising ways. It’s an act that we, as consumers, can take to reduce our carbon footprints. Leading up to Earth Day, that seems like a wise choice. There is much about chives to love. They are perennial, so they’ll grow back after each harvest and continue...

Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) Chives have been in cultivation since at least the Middle Ages in Europe, and there are references to their use in ancient Rome, but primarily as a medicinal herb. They were used to treat sunburn and sore throat, and it was believed that they would increase blood pressure and act as a diuretic. As a culinary herb, they did not really catch on until the late 18th century. Bundles of dried chive flowers and leaves were hung in some central European households to ward off evil spirits. Chives are, of course, small members of the onion family,...