Sowing chive seeds,how?

hollydays

I want to eventually have chives in my garden,both in straight rows (they look lovely for the flowers in a cottage garden style bed),and in clumps.I bought a pack of the fine leaved ones. 150 seeds.I understand they take a bit of time to establish from seed.

I will raise them on window sills, I read on here obout putting newspaper in the bottom ofthe seed trays,should I do this? Should I plant in full size seed trays or half size? Are they hard to germinate?I also read they are companion plants for roses,carrots,tomatoes.As I will be growing toms in an unheated greenhouse do I plant them in the tomato pots or in a big pot of their own?

Sambucus_Nigra

Fine leaved ones? Do you mean Garlic Chives; much harder to germinate but better [white] flowers? That's life!

Anyway - best thing to do if you want lots of chives; sow a pinch into modules and then you can transplant each module where you want them.

Germinate indoors, and put outside as soon as they show. Then when about 2 inches tall, or each module is full of roots - transplant into final position.

In future; when the flowers have gone over and you can see the seeds, bury each flowerhead where you want new plants. Saves you the effort of germinating indoors and transplanting.

hollydays

Its this one
http://www.unwins.co.uk/chive-seeds-pid3980.html
I dont think its garlic chives
I dont think I have any modules,I will check,but I dont want to by any.Is there anything else I could use?
Thanks for the tips.

Sambucus_Nigra

You could cut up loo roll insides, and put in the seed tray to make modules; it just makes it easier to plant out a clump at a time.

A bit like this in a seed tray though...make them about an inch tall.
http://linearlegume.blogspot.com/2009/04/using-loo-roll-insides.html

The seed tray will need to be on another tray to catch the water...

hollydays

thanks.I see.in general are you saying any seed tray has to have a water catcher?

valk_scot

I think you're over egging the pudding here a bit. Chives will self-seed everywhere and they'll grow in the worst of conditions so they don't need a lot of fussing over. Get a dozen yoghurt pots/loo roll inners/plastic coffee cups etc, stab some drainage holes in the bottom, fill with multi-purpose comost to half an inch of the top, firm gently, sprinkle a pinch of seeds into each pot, lightly cover with compost, place on something to catch the drips and water. (Otherwise the water will drip through and run over your windowsill and carpets.) Keep moist and in good light. Once about 3" long, harden them off and plant in situ outside.


OR....find someone with established chives, beg a clump of them, split the clump up into small clumps and plant out in situ.

OR...plant a pinch of seeds in situ and let them get on with it.

Sambucus_Nigra

hollydays wrote: »

thanks.I see.in general are you saying any seed tray has to have a water catcher?

Well, yes! Otherwise where is the water going to go?

I agree - chives are one of the easiest things to grow - pop a pinch where you want them and you should see shoots in a few weeks.

Sally_A

Agree with Valk_Scot, advise any friends who already have clumps in their garden, that it is advantagious to de clump and thin out every 3 years or so.

I'm such a lovely neighbour, I've been known to do this as a free service when the next doors were on holiday.:cool::cool:

savemoney

Shame you dont know anyone with chives there are so easy to grow and divide. They grow in clumps so every year in Spring I split them up sometimes given them away

cjb02

Can I suggest for a quick solution over sowing seeds is to buy some already grown from the supermarket and plant those. I have 3 very large clumps in my garden which were half price from the supermarket over a period of 2months about 3years ago and they went great guns. They were worked out at about 50p per pot when purchased. So wait for a sale at your local supermarket and indulge.

hollydays

cjb02 wrote: »

Can I suggest for a quick solution over sowing seeds is to buy some already grown from the supermarket and plant those. I have 3 very large clumps in my garden which were half price from the supermarket over a period of 2months about 3years ago and they went great guns. They were worked out at about 50p per pot when purchased. So wait for a sale at your local supermarket and indulge.

Thanks for all the advice.
cjb- great idea,my local diy shop neglects its plants so I will keep an eye out for those,and in supermarket.
This is the first seeds I have grown in years,so I want to avoid making too many mistakes.