Fresh chives all winter: how to force them on your windowsill
Dig up a clump of chives now and you'll have fresh green shoots in your kitchen by January – and kids can watch them grow within days.
Chives are one of the most rewarding plants in the garden, and with a simple method you can coax them into growing again in winter. All you need is a clump from your bed, a pot and a little patience. It’s a lovely project with kids, because the first green shows up after just a few days.
Why chives rest in winter
Chives are a perennial: in autumn they pull their leaves back and survive as a root clump in the soil. They need this rest period. If you force them too early they never get their cold break, and the shoots stay thin and weak.
Dig up a clump and pot it
October or November is a good time. Cut a fist-sized to hand-sized clump with a spade and trim the old foliage to about a hand’s width above the soil. Place the clump in a pot of loose potting soil that holds it snugly all around, and water it in well once. Fill the hole in the bed with soil; the mother plant will sprout again in spring.
Cold first, then warmth
For about four to six weeks, keep the pot outdoors in a sheltered spot against a house wall, on the balcony or in a carport. A few nights of light frost won’t hurt; in hard, lasting frost, wrap the pot in fleece or set it in a bucket of leaves. The soil should never dry out completely, but it should never sit wet either.
Bring it into the light from December
After the cold phase, from around mid-December through January, move the pot to a bright window in a room at 15 to 20 degrees Celsius. Keep the soil lightly moist. After just a few days, fresh green tips push out of the clump, and after two to three weeks you can harvest the first stalks. Kids love measuring the height with a ruler every day.
Harvest properly, then let it rest
Cut the stalks about two fingers’ width above the clump, never everything at once. That way the chives regrow a few more times. The reserves in the clump do run out eventually: after two to three months, let it rest and plant it back into the bed in spring, where it recovers.
More green from your garden, step by step
This way you get something fresh on your plate in winter without buying anything. In Rootivo you can log the pot as an entry in your garden journal and note when you brought it inside, so next year you know exactly how long it took until the first harvest.