🌿 Garlic chives

Garlic chives, or Chinese chives, have flat, grass-like leaves with a mild garlic flavour, and produce pretty white starry flowers in late summer. They are tougher and easier than garlic, grow in sun or part shade, and come back each year.

They are widely used in East Asian cooking and are excellent in pots. Cut flowers before the seed ripens, since they self-seed freely.

Varieties to try

Garlic chives (standard)Chinese leekNira (Japanese type)

Sow in March to May, 1 cm deep, in rows 20–25 cm apart, in any reasonably fertile soil, and thin to 20 cm. Seed germinates in 2–3 weeks. Clumps can be divided in spring or autumn.

Plants are happy in pots at least 20 cm wide. Water until established, then tolerate dry spells.

Top tips

• Sow in spring.
• Divide clumps to propagate.
• Thin to 20 cm.
• Easy in pots.

Little care is needed. Water in dry spells and feed lightly in spring. Remove flower stems before seed sets if you want to avoid self-seeding. In autumn, cut the leaves back to 5 cm.

Divide clumps every 3–4 years to keep them vigorous. Onion fly, rust and slugs may occur but are rarely serious.

Top tips

• Cut back in autumn.
• Divide every 3–4 years.
• Deadhead flowers.
• Water in drought.

Watch out for

Allium rustOnion flySlugsSelf-seeding

Cut leaves with scissors 5 cm above the ground, from about 8 weeks after sowing, taking about a third of the plant at a time. Plants regrow quickly. The white flower buds and flowers are edible and attractive.

Harvest regularly from spring to autumn. Plants die back in winter.

If you grow a patch, it is a good idea to cut the whole clump back to 5 cm in midsummer to refresh it; fresh young leaves will appear within two weeks. Cut flower stems for the vase as they last well and add a mild garlic scent.

Top tips

• Cut 5 cm above ground.
• Eat the flowers.
• Cut regularly.
• Take a third at a time.

Chop leaves into stir-fries, omelettes, dumplings, noodles, soups, salads, potatoes and dips. The flavour is delicate; add at the end of cooking. The flowers make a pretty garnish and an edible decoration.

Fresh leaves keep a week in the fridge. Freeze chopped in bags. Garlic chives lose flavour when dried.

Garlic chives are the classic filling for Chinese dumplings, mixed with minced pork and ginger. They are also delicious in scrambled eggs, stirred into hot noodles just before serving, or as a topping for congee and potato dishes.

Top tips

• Add at the end.
• Freeze chopped.
• Garnish with flowers.
• Stir into dumplings.