\u00a9 2021 wikiHow, Inc. All rights reserved. When I cut half of the tuft, I get both flowers and a nice harvest of chives. After the chives are established, you can harvest them at any time. Step One: Iffah Jasni. Cutting Herbs. Instead of making more chive butter, I opted to make a big batch of dried chives in the oven. After cutting cut the chive into shade and away from direct sunlight. Clean scissors or knives before and after the cut. They require full sun and will benefit from rich, moist soils. Playing next. How to cut chives. Chives thrive on nutrient-rich soils and need plenty of water. Another wrong way is … When your chives produce a large harvest and you’ll not be able to consume within a week. So make sure that you have cut the whole plant evenly at least once. Gently dig up a mature clump and, with a sharp spade or garden knife, cut through the roots and bulbs to make smaller plants about 3 to 4 inches in diameter. Chives are a perfect clumping perennial and you can propagate by division and a sharp spade. Finely... Make Chive Oil. When cutting, cut to the base of the leaves, just above soil level, as the lowest part of leaves are most tender and this promotes new, vigorous growth. ), then your supply of fresh chives will be even closer at hand! Cut back several times, beginning late spring and through summer, or snip individual leaves. Videos in this Series. Harvest 3 to 4 times during the first year. Chives also grow well in container gardens and thrive indoors on a sunny windowsill. Chives are useful in many cuisines and add flavor to almost any dish desiring a bit of an onion or garlic flavor. A few hours before you begin the project, water the clump to make sure the plants are nicely plumped up. How do I harvest chives? There is nothing like dunking warm, crusty bread into chive oil with a little salt and pepper. Cut into sections 1 inch long and set aside. You can then slice off pieces as you need them for your recipes. There really isn’t much to cutting them. Gather a small... 2. If you must bring them in (I’m looking at you, North Dakota! 9. The first step is to cut off the inedible bottom end of the chives. To keep the plant re-growing follow those steps: Use a gardening scissors in harvesting chives. Chives. After qualifying which plants are ready for harvest, you could start cutting the chives two inches away from the soil. When harvesting chives, you can cut the chive plant back to half its size without harming the plant. They were starting to look a little sad, and I wanted to save as many chives as possible for later. how to cut chives. Also cut any flower stems about fingerwidth above the ground. When harvesting chives, you can cut the chive plant back to half its size without harming the plant. Cutting chives from the tip of the foliage kills the stalk from where you cut to the ground – this is a total waste and not either good for the plant.