Onion chives - the smallest edible onion

Years ago I bought some seedlings of Allium schoenoprasum. These are a tiny perennial vegetable that is often called 'chives' or 'onion chives', I am sure they also have a few other common names.

I grow some very rare vegetables, but onion chives are extremely common. They are easy to grow, and have many uses in the kitchen. Onion chives are edible, perennial, and reputed to be the smallest edible onion species, which is fun.

I originally planted mine in a pot, was impressed by how cute they were, then generally neglected and ignored them for years.  I harvested their leaves for use in meals, occasionally I watered them but not nearly often enough, and I never truly valued them. Even though I didn’t take good care of them, and the conditions were downright hostile at times, these onions chives survived and performed really well for me.

Onion chives - flower

After sitting in their little pot of soil for close to a decade and moving house with me I recently planted my chives into the garden and water them more often. Now they have a bit of space and water they are really taking off.

The leaves of chives are elongated green tubes that are hollow in cross section, these leaves are the main crop that can be eaten raw, cooked, or dried. The flowers are small, reasonably pretty, enjoyed by bees as well as other pollinating insects, and are also edible.

Onion chives can die down to bulbs which look like tiny onions. I assume you can eat the bulbs but they are so small that I have never bothered trying. 

Onion chives - growing happily near asparagus

Chive leaves taste much like onion, but not as pungent. It is easy to snip the leaves with scissors and use them in all kinds of meals and garnishes. They don’t blow you away in terms of taste, or yield, but chives really take no effort to grow, they don’t need much space, they look nice, and are simple to harvest.

Being perennial vegetables means I planted them once about ten years ago and have been harvesting ever since. Chives can easily be grown from seed, but I usually just allow plants to divide.

Most people recommend replacing chive plants with seedlings every year or two to refresh them. As they are perennial vegetables I don’t really see the point. Many people recommend removing the flower stalks as soon as noticed so the plant puts more energy into leaf growth. While this is probably best practice you don’t have to remove them, they should do just fine if you allow them to flower and set seed. You could collect the seeds, or allow them to drop, to produce more plants for free.

Perennial onion chives are easy to grow organically

I grow everything organically, I don't even use the organic poisons that many people use. Even though I give them no special treatment I have never had any issues with pests or diseases with onion chives. This means you will find them simple to grow too.

Even though they are so small, onion chives are survivors. Mine have survived blasting heat a touch below 50C as well as frosts down to around -10C. I never water mine often enough, I don’t divide them regularly, or top dress the soil, or anything that I should, and they not only survive but they produce an edible crop and continue to increase in numbers.

If you want to get the best yield then water them, divide them, remove flower stalks as they appear, keep them well weeded, and keep the soil fertile. If you want an edible plant that can be grown in a pot on your kitchen window sill and look great, then chives are for you. If you are lazy and want a plant that will produce a small crop with next to no effort, put them in the garden and try to keep the weeds to a minimum. Onion chives really are quite versatile.

I grow an unnamed variety that is not overly spectacular. I have often wondered if there are improved varieties of chives and if any of these are noticeably different to the ones I have.

I have occasionally considered breeding an improved variety of chives, or crossing with another onion species. While interspecific hybrids look like fun and according to research are achievable I don’t see a lot of improvement that can be made to chives as chives are already pretty great. Who knows, maybe one day I will have an epiphany about some way chives can be improved and use them to create something better.Until then I will continue to enjoy the ones I have.

Onion chives clumping up nicely

I assume part of chives continuing popularity is how simple they are to grow and how useful they are in the kitchen. I quite like chives but they are not as useful or as high yielding as some of my other perennial onions. Hopefully one day some of the rarer perennial onions such as everlasting onions and perennial leeks become more commonly available.

Overall I am happy with these little chives, they are pretty enough to be in a flower garden, they basically look after themselves, they don’t pose a weed threat, and they are useful in the kitchen.

I sell onion chives plants and various other perennial onions and perennial vegetables which I can post to much of Australia. If you are interested in buying perennial vegetables in Australia they are listed on my for sale page. Onion chive seeds only have a short viability, when I have fresh seed I also list them for sale.