Perennial chives: planting and care, how to grow from seeds, useful properties, photo

Chives are herbaceous perennials with valuable nutritional and medicinal properties. It is not difficult to grow a crop in the garden, subject to the basic rules of planting and further care.

What is chives

Chives, skoroda or chives, is a herbaceous plant of the Onion family, known in culture since the XNUMXth century. It has a pleasant bright or slightly spicy taste, it is used for food at a young age up to three weeks.

The culture is popular with gardeners due to increased endurance and frost resistance. The leaves of the plant have not only food, but also decorative properties. Chives are often planted in the garden as a honey plant or as part of artistic compositions.

What does chives look like

Chives is a medium-sized perennial with oblong or ovate-conical bulbs up to 25 mm in length in brownish papery shells. It has a cylindrical dense stem up to 60 cm high. A third or to the middle of the shoot is “dressed” with leaf sheaths, the plates themselves are green with a wax coating, fistulate, up to 6 mm in diameter.

One adult koroda bush is capable of producing up to eight shoots at the same time.

From May to August, chives bloom with pale pink or pink-purple globular buds. The plant usually enters the decorative period in the second year after planting. From June it gives fruits – boxes with seeds.

Characteristics of chives

Chives have a very high endurance and can easily withstand temperatures down to -35 ° C. You can grow it in open ground not only in the middle lane, but also in Siberia, the Far East and even the Far North.

The yield of a plant depends on the specific variety and growing conditions. But on average, chives are capable of producing up to 7 kg of leaves from 1 m² and up to 600 g of edible plates from one adult bush. During the season, the crop can be harvested several times – the plant quickly recovers after cutting.

Unlike many garden crops, chives do not require an annual transplant. It is allowed to grow it in one place for 3-4 years, and if it performs only decorative functions on the site, up to nine years. The culture shows high resistance to pests and fungi and even helps protect neighboring plantings from diseases.

Varieties of chives

Chives are represented by a large number of varieties with valuable decorative and nutritional properties. Several of them are in high demand.

Bohemia

A productive variety allows you to remove up to 200 g of greenery from a bush at a time. The plant rarely suffers from diseases, successfully develops in one place for several years. The first cut can be carried out three weeks after the formation of the leaves.

The taste of Bohemia chives is spicy, but quite mild

Medonos

Resistant to cold snaps and poor soils, the chives variety Medonos throughout the summer brings dark green leaves with a pleasant spicy taste. Differs in beautiful flowering, often found in artistic compositions in the landscape. In accordance with the name, the plant is a good honey plant and attracts bees to the site.

Feathers of chives Medonos grow very quickly – up to 20 cm per week

Spring

An early variety of chives allows you to remove the leaves in just three weeks after germination. The plant demonstrates high frost resistance, in the spring one of the first sprouts in the garden. It forms tall and fairly powerful bushes, the yield is approximately 6 kg per meter of plantings during the season, subject to agricultural practices.

The spring chives variety has a mild, slightly spicy taste.

Chemal

A low variety of chives stretches only up to 40 cm. The taste of the leaves is sharp and bright, the yields are high – about 7 kg of juicy feathers can be collected in a few cuts.

The disadvantages of the Chemal variety include poor resistance to powdery mildew.

Crocus

An early maturing chives variety suitable for cutting as early as 14 days after the leaves have grown. Possesses pleasant taste and well maintains spring frosts in an open ground. At the same time, the yield of the variety is average – about 600 g of feathers can be collected from a meter of plantings.

Chives Crocus requires regular transplantation, otherwise the yield of the plant will decrease

The benefits and harms of chives

The edible plant chives has numerous medicinal properties:

• improves appetite and speeds up digestive processes;
• strengthens the immune system and promotes recovery from colds;
• reduces the risk of developing atherosclerosis;
• prevents the occurrence of beriberi;
• has an antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory effect;
• helps to remove slags, toxins and parasites from the body;
• improves visual acuity;
• reduces bleeding gums;
• dilates blood vessels and regulates blood pressure;
• beneficial effect on the condition of the genitourinary system in men and women;
• improves intestinal motility in sluggish digestion.

Along with valuable properties, chives have contraindications. The use of the plant is not recommended:

• with ulcerative lesions of the stomach and intestines;
• with exacerbation of pancreatitis;
• with chronic diseases of the heart and blood vessels;
• with hepatitis and cirrhosis of the liver;
• with individual intolerance;
• with frequent migraines.

Chives have a negative effect on the body mainly with excessive use. In excessive amounts, sharp feathers cause heartburn and nausea, diarrhea, headaches and allergic rashes.

How to plant chives

Growing chives is quite easy – the culture belongs to the category of unpretentious. The plant can be sown directly in open ground or in closed containers at home.

Growing chives from seed outdoors

You can sow chives on the site in the spring at the beginning of the growing season or in the fall shortly before the cold weather. The site for the plant is chosen moderately lit, with a slight shadow. The soil culture requires loose, enriched with lime, with good drainage.

A few months before planting, the selected area is dug up and cleared of weeds. A bucket of humus or 500 ml of compost per 1 m is added to the soil², pour a small amount of urea and superphosphate, after which the substrate is mixed. A few days before the actual planting of the crop, 20 g of ammonium nitrate per 1 m XNUMX are also added to the site.² and abundantly water the earth with water.

The procedure for sowing chives in an open garden looks like this:

1. The seeds of the plant are soaked for a day in warm water, periodically changing the liquid, and then dried on a paper towel.
2. Small holes up to 2 cm deep are prepared on the site, leaving a distance of 5 cm between them.
3. Treated seeds are laid in holes and covered with soil on top.
4. The beds are abundantly sprayed with a spray bottle.

In the first season, young leaves are not recommended to be cut – the plant is given the opportunity to get stronger properly. If this rule is followed, the bushes will bring a bountiful harvest in the second year.

It is recommended to leave 15-30 cm of space between rows of chives

Growing seedlings of chives

You can plant chives seeds first on seedlings at home for subsequent transfer to open ground. The technology looks like this:

1. A wide box about 20 cm deep is filled with a substrate of humus, garden soil, sand and wood ash, not reaching 3-4 cm to the edge. The soil is leveled and watered abundantly.
2. The pre-soaked seeds of the plant are placed in pits 1,5 cm deep at intervals of 2,5 cm. From above, the material is covered with soil and sprayed with a spray gun, and then the box is covered with film or glass.
3. For several days, the seedlings are kept in a warm place with moderate lighting. After germination, the shelter is removed from the box and the chives microgreens are moved to a brighter room with a temperature of about 18 ° C.
4. At the time of the formation of the first true leaf, the seedlings dive.

During home growing, chives need to be moistened regularly. Seedlings are transferred to the ground on average two months after germination. Plants should have two true leaves by this point.

Light day for seedlings of chives should be at least 12 hours

chives care

You can grow chives from seeds in any climate. Caring for a culture is not particularly difficult, but some points require attention.

Watering

Chives require abundant watering. With a lack of moisture, the plant loses its decorative effect, besides, the leaves become too rough and less tasty. The culture is watered with settled slightly warm water, you need to focus on the state of the top layer of soil. Waterlogging of the soil also poses a danger to the skoroda, since the roots of the plant can rot.

Feeding

Fertilizers for chives begin to be applied in the second year. Top dressing of the plant is carried out after the first cut – when watering, a solution of bird droppings or an infusion of mullein is added to the soil. It is also allowed to sprinkle the beds with dry minerals – nitrofoska or azofoska 40-100 g per 1 m².

When using organic matter, you can feed the plant after each collection of leaves. Mineral fertilizers are applied less frequently – after 2-3 cuts.

Loosening and weeding

Mature chives form a dense sod on the soil surface and usually inhibit weed growth on their own. But young plants aged 1-2 years are recommended to weed and loosen monthly. This will additionally protect the root from pests and fungi and improve the access of oxygen to the roots.

Preparation for winter

Skorod plant tolerates severe frosts well. But the rules for caring for chives in the fall still recommend warming the bed. Usually a dense layer of mulch is used – the soil is covered with dry foliage, sawdust, and covered with spruce branches. In the spring, with the onset of a thaw, the shelter is removed so that it does not interfere with the growth of the culture.

Fighting diseases and pests

Chives rarely suffer from pests and diseases, since the phytoncides in the plant repel insects and destroy pathogenic microorganisms. But some ailments still pose a danger to the speedy:

1. Powdery mildew. A fungal disease can be recognized by pale green spots on the leaves of the plant and a whitish coating. With a neglected disease, the affected areas turn brown over time, and the chives plates die off.
   
   

   Powdery mildew appears on chives in conditions of excessive dampness

2. Rust. Another fungal disease leaves brown-red marks and swellings on the plant. The fungus spreads quickly and in a short time can destroy the entire garden.
   
   

   Rust on a skorode plant develops with an excess of nitrogen in the soil

The fight against onion diseases is carried out with the help of fungicides Topaz, Fitosporin and Baktofit. Within a month after spraying, it is not recommended to cut the leaves of the culture for food consumption. As a preventive measure for fungi, it is necessary to maintain cleanliness in the area and remove plant debris in which pathogenic microorganisms overwinter in time.

Of the pests, the danger to chives is mainly thrips. You can remove parasites with the help of Aktara or Bordeaux mixture. To prevent thrips from multiplying in the beds with chives, before the onset of winter, you need to clean the area from rotting plant residues.

Both adult insects and thrips larvae feed on thrips.

Reproduction

You can propagate skoroda on the site by the division method. This allows not only to increase the population of the plant, but also to rejuvenate old bushes that are no longer able to demonstrate high yields.

Division for chives is carried out in spring or early autumn. The procedure is performed like this:

1. On the selected day, the bed with the plant is watered abundantly.
2. Skoroda is dug up with a shovel and carefully removed from the ground.
3. The leaves of the bush are cut to 15 cm, and the roots – up to 5-7 cm.
4. Manually or with a knife, the plant is divided into several parts with 8-10 bulbs on each.
5. The resulting small bushes are transferred to new places and planted in the usual way.

Care for chives after division is carried out according to standard rules.

Chives are recommended to be divided at the age of 3-4 years

Harvesting and storage of crops

For the first time, the harvest of skoroda is carried out in the second season after planting. Young succulent leaves are cut off in full or only a few feathers are taken from the plant. At the same time, small stumps are left above the ground. Flowering stems during the summer are removed immediately after emergence to prevent leaf roughness and preserve their juiciness.

From spring to the end of summer, chives can be completely cut 2-4 times, depending on the variety and growth rate. The last time the leaves are removed in mid-August and no longer disturb the speed before the cold weather, so that the culture has time to accumulate a supply of nutrients before the onset of winter. Feathers stretched up to 25-40 cm in height have the best taste.

Chives can be stored fresh in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. If it is necessary to prepare plant feathers for the winter, they need to be frozen at a negative temperature or dried. In both cases, skoroda will retain maximum benefit and will not lose taste.

Conclusion

Chives are a beautiful and useful plant with good yields. The culture does not impose high requirements for care, but allows you to get tasty and juicy greens several times during the growing season.