Allium tuberosum
Chinese chives, garlic chives, fragrant garlic, nira: a relative of chives with a mild garlic flavor, it can be recognized at a glance by its flat, rather than tubular, leaves. Its remarkably decorative white flower heads in late summer make it as beautiful in flower beds as it is useful in the kitchen.
Characteristics:
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Mild garlic flavor: rounder and less pungent than garlic, it is used like chives.
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Flat leaves: its distinctive feature, whereas chives have hollow, round stems.
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Spectacular flowering: abundant, slightly fragrant white flower heads in late summer.
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Hardy perennial: it forms dense clumps that return every year.
Sowing advice:
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Exposure: sunny, or partially shaded in southern regions.
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Soil: light, moist and rich in humus. It appreciates well-nourished soil, unlike bulb garlic—adding compost produces fuller clumps.
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Method: sow from February to April for a harvest three to four months later, or in July–August for a spring harvest. Sow 1 cm deep, in pots or directly in the ground. See how to sow your seeds.
Planting advice:
- Transplant in clumps spaced 25 cm apart, along flower-bed edges or in the vegetable garden. In pots, choose a well-drained container at least 25 to 30 cm in diameter.
Care advice:
- Water regularly to keep the soil moist. Cut the clump back after each harvest; it will grow new foliage.
- Divide every 3 to 4 years to rejuvenate it. Be careful: it self-seeds easily. Cut off faded flower heads if you do not want it to spread.
Harvesting advice:
- Cut the leaves with scissors 3 cm above the soil, as needed. They regrow within a few weeks, allowing several harvests per season.
- Harvest the flower buds before they open and sauté them—a much-loved delicacy in Asia.
Beneficial combinations:
Benefits for biodiversity:
- Its late-summer flowering occurs during a quiet period for pollinators: its white flower heads are then literally covered with bees and butterflies.
- Its sulfur compounds naturally reduce pest pressure on neighboring crops.
Uses:
- Snip the leaves raw into salads, sauces, omelets and mayonnaise; cook them in quiches, stews and vegetable stir-fries. Essential in Chinese dumplings and Asian stir-fried dishes. Its flowers, with a subtle garlic flavor, decorate raw vegetables and salads.
Harvesting your own seeds:
Leave a few flower heads to dry completely on the plant, then shake them over a container: the angular black seeds will fall from the capsules. It does not cross-pollinate with common chives, which simplifies seed production. See how to save your seeds.
Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for all living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Auvergne volcanoes, we choose open-pollinated, non-hybrid varieties, tested for their germination rate, carefully sorted and packaged, with no chemical treatment. Our belief: to give gardeners back the ability to resow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.
The taste of garlic without the bulb, and flowers that make a sensation in late summer.
