Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) are a perennial herb prized for their mild, onion-like flavor and delicate texture. For gardeners in cooler climates with shorter growing seasons, starting seeds indoors is the most reliable way to gain a significant head start. This process allows the slow-germinating seeds to develop into sturdy seedlings, ensuring a robust plant ready for the garden once the threat of cold weather has passed. Growing chives from seed requires careful timing and a controlled indoor environment.
Calculating the Optimal Sowing Date
The specific date for planting chive seeds indoors should be calculated based on your local climate’s average last expected spring frost. This calculation is a fundamental step for all seed starting. To determine this date, you can use online resources that provide historical climate data for your specific zip code.
Chive seeds are known to be slow to germinate and grow, requiring a longer indoor period than many other herbs and vegetables. You should plan to sow the seeds indoors approximately six to eight weeks before your area’s average last frost date. This duration allows the seedlings enough time to mature into a size capable of handling the outdoor transition.
The germination period typically spans seven to fourteen days, provided the soil temperature is maintained consistently between 60°F and 70°F. Counting backward from the last frost date ensures that your young plants are established and ready to be moved outside when the spring weather stabilizes.
Preparing the Indoor Growing Environment
Before sowing, select appropriate containers such as cell packs or small pots, ensuring they have drainage holes to prevent waterlogging. These containers should be thoroughly cleaned and sterilized, perhaps with a diluted bleach solution, to eliminate any residual fungal spores that can harm seedlings.
It is necessary to use a sterile, fine-textured seed-starting mix, which is formulated to be lighter and more porous than standard potting soil. Garden soil should be avoided because it often compacts too easily and can contain pathogens or weed seeds. The mix provides the ideal balance of moisture retention and drainage required for fragile roots.
For successful growth, the seedlings need a high level of light intensity for an extended period daily. While a bright, south-facing window can provide some light, it is usually insufficient, leading to weak, leggy growth. Supplementing with or using dedicated grow lights is recommended, providing them with 14 to 16 hours of light each day.
Essential Care for Young Seedlings
Once the seedlings emerge, maintaining consistent moisture is necessary, but overwatering must be avoided to prevent damp-off disease. Damp-off is a fungal infection that causes the seedling stem to rot at the soil line, leading to collapse. Watering from the bottom, by placing the seed tray in a shallow basin of water, allows the soil to wick up moisture without saturating the surface where fungi thrive.
To ensure strong, healthy growth, keep a light airflow moving over the seedlings using a small fan. This helps strengthen the stems and reduces humidity around the plants. This improved air circulation is a proactive measure against fungal issues and helps prevent the moist, stagnant conditions that favor disease development.
Chives naturally grow in clumps, and if many seeds were sown together, the resulting clustered seedlings will need to be addressed. Instead of thinning to a single plant, chives should be thinned to a cluster of three to four seedlings per planting spot or cell. This clustering will form the strong, full clumps that are desired in the garden.
The Transition to Outdoor Planting
Before the indoor-grown chive seedlings are permanently transplanted outside, they must undergo a gradual process of acclimatization called hardening off. This transition is important because the sheltered indoor environment has not prepared the plants for direct sun exposure, wind, and fluctuating temperatures. This process usually takes seven to ten days and significantly reduces the shock of transplanting.
Start by placing the seedlings outdoors in a sheltered, shaded location for just a few hours on the first day, ensuring they are protected from strong winds. Over the following week, slowly increase the duration of their outdoor exposure, introducing them to periods of direct sunlight for increasingly longer times. This gradual exposure allows the plant’s cuticle layer to thicken and its internal structure to adjust to the harsher elements.
The final step is transplanting the clumps into the garden or their permanent containers once the danger of the last frost has completely passed. The chive clumps should be planted approximately 8 to 12 inches apart to allow for mature growth. They prefer a location that receives full sun and a well-draining soil composition.