Allium schoenoprasum
Broad-leaved chives, giant chives, civet: it is the same species as common chives, but selected for its noticeably thicker stems. The advantage is very practical in the kitchen: more to chop for the same harvesting time, and a more pronounced presence in dishes.
Characteristics:
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Thicker stems: easier to harvest and chop than classic chives.
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Edible flowers: spherical pinkish-purple flower heads, highly decorative and attractive to pollinators.
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Very hardy: it tolerates temperatures down to -20 °C and returns every year without protection.
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Dual use: aromatic in the vegetable garden, ornamental along borders, in beds or beside paths.
Sowing advice:
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Exposure: full sun to partial shade.
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Soil: cool, loose, fertile, substantial and well drained. Unlike bulb onions, it appreciates rich soil that stays cool: adding compost produces fuller clumps and thicker stems.
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Method: sow from spring to early summer, 1 cm deep, in pots or directly in the ground. Germination is a little slow; allow two to three weeks. See how to sow your seeds.
Planting advice:
- Transplant in clumps of several plants, spaced 20 cm apart — it makes far more impact when grouped than when planted alone. Perfect along a path, in a flower bed or on a windowsill.
Care advice:
- Water regularly to keep the soil cool: this prevents the leaves from turning yellow and becoming tough.
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The useful step: cut the entire clump back to 5 cm after flowering. It will regrow within two weeks with fresh, tender foliage, two to three times per season.
- Divide the clump every 3 years in spring to rejuvenate it.
Harvesting advice:
- Cut the stems with scissors 2 cm above the soil, never by pinching them halfway up: cut ends turn yellow and the clump becomes exhausted.
- It freezes very well when chopped; drying, on the other hand, causes it to lose most of its aroma.
Beneficial combinations:
Benefits for biodiversity:
- Its pink pom-poms are frequently visited by bees, bumblebees and butterflies in spring — let part of the clump flower rather than cutting it all back.
- Its sulfur compounds naturally reduce pest pressure on neighboring crops.
Uses:
- Chopped raw and added at the last moment: salads, raw vegetables, soups, sauces, fresh cheeses and omelets. Cooking destroys its aroma. Its flowers can be separated into florets to decorate salads, or used to flavor vinegar, which they turn pink.
Harvesting your own seeds:
Leave a few flower heads to dry completely on the plant, then shake them over a container: the black seeds will come free from the capsules. Sow them promptly, as their germination rate drops after one year. See how to store your seeds.
Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Auvergne Volcanoes, we choose reproducible, 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.
All the flavor of chives, with more to harvest.
