Content
Chives are a herbaceous perennial with valuable nutritional and medicinal properties. Growing a crop in the garden is not difficult if you follow the basic rules of planting and further care.
What is chives
Chives, skoroda or chives, are a herbaceous plant of the Allium family, known in cultivation since the 16th century. It has a pleasant bright or mildly pungent taste and is used as food at a young age of up to three weeks.
The culture is popular among gardeners due to its 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 are a medium-sized perennial with oblong or ovoid-conical bulbs up to 25 mm in length in brownish paper-like shells. It has a cylindrical dense stem up to 60 cm high. A third or up to the middle of the shoot is “dressed” with leaf sheaths; the plates themselves are green with a waxy coating, fist-shaped, up to 6 mm in diameter.
One adult skoroda 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 spherical buds. The plant usually enters its decorative period in the second year after planting. From June it produces fruits - capsules with seeds.
Characteristics of chives
Chives have very high endurance and can easily withstand temperatures down to -35 °C. It can be grown in open ground not only in the middle zone, 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 can produce up to 7 kg of leaves per 1 m2 and up to 600 g of edible plates from one adult bush. The harvest can be harvested several times during the season - the plant quickly recovers after cutting.
Unlike many garden crops, chives do not require annual replanting. It is allowed to grow it in one place for 3-4 years, and if on the site it performs only decorative functions, up to nine years. The culture is highly resistant 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 particular demand.
Bohemia
The productive variety allows you to remove up to 200 g of greenery from the bush at a time. The plant rarely suffers from diseases and successfully develops in one place for several years. The first cutting can be done three weeks after the leaves form.
The taste of Bohemia chives is spicy, but quite mild
Honey plant
The chives variety Honey Plant, resistant to cold weather and poor soils, produces dark green leaves with a pleasant pungent taste throughout the summer. It has beautiful flowering and is 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.
Chives feathers grow very quickly - up to 20 cm per week
Spring
An early variety of chives allows you to remove the leaves just three weeks after germination. The plant demonstrates high frost resistance and is one of the first to sprout in the garden in the spring. It forms tall and quite powerful bushes, the yield is approximately 6 kg per meter of planting during the season, subject to the observance of agricultural technology.
The Spring chives variety has a mild, slightly spicy taste.
Chemal
A short variety of chives stretches up to only 40 cm. The taste of the leaves is sharp and bright, the yield indicators are high - in a few cuts you can collect about 7 kg of succulent feathers.
The disadvantages of the Chemal variety include poor resistance to powdery mildew.
Crocus
An early ripening variety of chives is suitable for cutting within 14 days after the leaves grow. It has a pleasant taste and withstands spring frosts well in 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 planting.
Crocus chives require regular replanting, otherwise the plant's yield will decrease
The benefits and harms of chives
The edible chives plant 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 vitamin deficiency;
- has antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory effects;
- helps remove waste, toxins and parasites from the body;
- improves visual acuity;
- reduces gum bleeding;
- dilates blood vessels and regulates blood pressure;
- has a beneficial effect on the condition of the genitourinary system in men and women;
- improves intestinal motility with sluggish digestion.
Along with its valuable properties, chives have contraindications. It is not recommended to use the plant:
- for ulcerative lesions of the stomach and intestines;
- with exacerbation of pancreatitis;
- for chronic diseases of the heart and blood vessels;
- with hepatitis and cirrhosis of the liver;
- with individual intolerance;
- for frequent migraines.
Chives have a negative effect on the body mainly when consumed in excess. In excessive quantities, sharp feathers cause heartburn and nausea, diarrhea, headaches and allergic rashes.
How to plant chives
Growing chives is quite easy - the crop belongs to the category of unpretentious ones. The plant can be sown directly in open ground or in closed containers at home.
Growing chives from seeds in open ground
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. Choose a site for the plant that is moderately lit, with light shade. The crop requires loose soil, enriched with lime, with good drainage.
Several months before planting, the selected area is dug up and cleared of weeds. Add a bucket of humus or 500 ml of compost per 1 m2 to the soil2, add 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 m2 is also added to the plot.2 and water the ground abundantly.
The procedure for sowing chives in an outdoor garden looks like this:
- The plant seeds are soaked for a day in warm water, periodically changing the liquid, and then dried on a paper towel.
- Small holes up to 2 cm deep are prepared in the area, leaving a distance of 5 cm between them.
- The treated seeds are placed in holes and covered with soil on top.
- The beds are generously sprayed with a spray bottle.
In the first season, it is not recommended to cut off young leaves - the plant is given the opportunity to properly grow stronger. 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 the rows of chives
Growing chives seedlings
You can first plant chives seeds as seedlings at home for later transfer to open ground. The technology looks like this:
- 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.
- Pre-soaked plant seeds are placed in holes 1.5 cm deep at intervals of 2.5 cm. The material is covered with soil on top and sprayed with a spray bottle, and then the box is covered with film or glass.
- For several days, the seedlings are kept in a warm place with moderate lighting. After germination, the cover is removed from the box and the chives microgreens are moved to a brighter room with a temperature of about 18 °C.
- At the moment of formation of the first true leaf, the seedlings are picked.
During cultivation at home, chives need to be moistened regularly. Seedlings are transferred to the ground on average two months after the formation of seedlings. By this time the plants should have two true leaves.
Daylight hours for chives seedlings should be at least 12 hours
Caring for chives
Chives can be grown from seeds in any climate. Caring for the crop is not particularly difficult, but some points require attention.
Watering
Chives require abundant watering. With a lack of moisture, the plant loses its decorative properties, and the leaves become too rough and less tasty. Water the crop with settled, lukewarm water; you need to focus on the condition of the top layer of soil. Waterlogging of the soil also poses a danger to the plant because the roots of the plant may rot.
Feeding
Fertilizers for chives begin to be applied in the second year.The plant is fertilized after the first cutting - when watering, a solution of bird droppings or mullein infusion is added to the soil. It is also allowed to sprinkle the beds with dry minerals - nitrophoska 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 cuttings.
Loosening and weeding
Mature chives form a dense turf on the soil surface and usually independently prevent the growth of weeds. But young plants 1-2 years old are recommended to weed and loosen monthly. This will additionally protect the tree from pests and fungi and improve oxygen access to the roots.
Preparing for winter
The skoroda plant tolerates severe frosts well. But the rules for caring for chives in the fall still recommend insulating the bed. Usually a dense layer of mulch is used - the soil is covered with dry leaves, sawdust, and 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 crop.
Disease and pest control
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 speed:
- Powdery mildew. The fungal disease can be recognized by pale green spots on the leaves of the plant and a whitish coating. When the disease is advanced, the affected areas turn brown over time, and the chives die off.
Powdery mildew appears on chives in conditions of excessive dampness
- Rust. Another fungal disease leaves brownish-red marks and swellings on the plant. The fungus spreads quickly and can destroy the entire garden bed in a short time.
Rust on a plant quickly develops when there is an excess of nitrogen in the soil.
The fight against onion diseases is carried out with the help of fungicides Topaz, Fitosporin and Baktofit. It is not recommended to cut the leaves of the crop for food consumption within a month after spraying. To prevent fungi, it is necessary to keep the area clean and promptly remove plant debris in which pathogenic microorganisms overwinter.
Of the pests, thrips are the main threat to chives. You can remove parasites using the drug Aktara or Bordeaux mixture. To prevent thrips from multiplying in beds with chives, before the onset of winter, you need to clear the area of rotting plant debris.
Both adult insects and thrips larvae feed on fast food.
Reproduction
The plant can be propagated on the site by division. This allows not only to increase the plant population, but also to rejuvenate old bushes that are no longer able to demonstrate high productivity.
Dividing for chives is carried out in spring or early autumn. The procedure is performed like this:
- On the selected day, the bed with the plant is watered abundantly.
- The plant is dug up with a shovel and carefully removed from the ground.
- The leaves of the bush are cut to 15 cm, and the roots to 5-7 cm.
- By hand or with a knife, divide the plant into several parts with 8-10 bulbs on each.
- The resulting small bushes are transferred to new places and planted according to the usual pattern.
Caring for chives after division is carried out according to standard rules.
It is recommended to divide chives at the age of 3-4 years.
Harvest and storage
The first 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. During the summer, flowering stems are removed immediately after emergence to prevent the leaves from becoming coarser and to maintain 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 leaves are removed for the last time in mid-August and are no longer disturbed until cold weather, so that the crop has time to accumulate a supply of nutrients before the onset of winter. Feathers that stretch up to 25-40 cm in height have the best taste.
You can store fresh chives in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. If you need to prepare plant feathers for the winter, they need to be frozen at subzero temperatures or dried. In both cases, the speed will retain maximum benefits and will not lose its taste.
Conclusion
Chives are a beautiful and useful plant with good yields. The culture does not have high care requirements, but allows you to obtain tasty and juicy greens several times during the growing season.
