Last edited on 2 Nov 2026. View history
Giant Chives
A variety of chives
How to sow giant chives: Direct seed. If planting indoors, harden off before transplanting seedlings outside.
Sun requirement for giant chives: Plant in Full Sun
A large, clump-forming perennial chive grown as a culinary herb. The leaves are cut at ground level and can be picked from September to late April, and it pairs well with bunching onions to give green onion all year. Scatter-sow in trays and feed well until about 10 cm tall, then plant out singly or in small plugs 20 cm apart on the diagonal, widening to 30 cm once established.
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Giant chives facts
Lifespan
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For giant chives, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 2°C and a shortest growing cycle of 70 days at its best temperature, about 910 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your giant chives will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Growing giant chives
- Sow seeds in trays 8 weeks before planting out
- Water regularly at planting out every week
- Cut the leaves at first harvest every 2 weeks
- Cut back the flower stems 8 weeks after first harvest
- Divide the clumps 36 months after planting out
Plant giant chives with
cayenne pepper
squash
peperoncini
indian mustard
fuji apple
cheongyang chili pepper
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Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Allium schoenoprasum L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Liliopsida Liliidae Asparagales Alliaceae |
|---|---|
| Optimal temperature | 10 - 20 °C |
| Absolute temperature | 2 - 35 °C |
| Optimal rainfall | 450 - 1600 mm/year |
| Absolute rainfall | 300 - 2800 mm/year |
| Optimal soil pH | 6.0 - 6.6 |
| Absolute soil pH | 5.0 - 8.2 |
| Crop cycle | 70 - 100 days |
| Max altitude | 2000 m |
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | annual, perennial |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | shallow (20-50 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, organic |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | long day (>14 hours) |
| Optimal light | very bright |
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