Moving chives

[Grace and Granola]

We moved into our house last August. There is a patch of chives that is about 3' x 8' in the middle of our lawn! Apparently there used to be a vegetable garden there years ago. Now, every time we mow, a few days later, there are shoots of "grass" that stand tall above the rest. We realized they were chives! So, I really don't mind having the chives in the middle of the yard, but I would like to have some in an actual garden space. You know, just in case I need chives on the day dh mows the yard! I don't want to dig a hole in the middle of the yard, but how could I move a small amount over the my garden area or a pot?

[gmvh]

They'll happily move but you'll need to take at least a little bit of soil with them. Just grab some soil from elsewhere in your yard to fill in the hole and sprinkle some grass seed over it. That's a huge patch of chives!

[Grace and Granola]

Thanks! I guess that will work And yes, it is a HUGE patch of chives!

[cschick]

At our old house, we dug a bunch of chives out of the yard one summer and put it in a big pot (about the size of a 5 gallon paint bucket). That fall, after it had died back, we moved the pot into the garage (without emptying it out).

The next spring, we had chives growing in the pot in the garage. So I moved it back into the yard. And I moved the pot back and forth from the yard to the garage to the yard each spring and fall for the next five years. I think I left the pot and the chives in the yard as a "present" for the next homeowner. :P

[Minxie]

Plant a vegetable garden around it and have less lawn.

[Grace and Granola]

Originally Posted by Minxie

Plant a vegetable garden around it and have less lawn.

I would totally do that except the previous owners must have torn out the vegetable garden to put in the playground equipment. So the chives grow about three feet behind the swings!

I like the idea of being able to move them in and out...but didn't your garage smell like a chive fest all winter?

[kcstar]

Chives, or onion grass? We were stationed at Scott when I was very small, and the smell of onion grass is a very strong memory in the area.

A google search brought this up:

http://foodunderfoot.com/tag/onion-grass

Apparently onion grass is edible too, just be sure it smells like onion/chives.

[Grace and Granola]

Originally Posted by kcstar

Chives, or onion grass? We were stationed at Scott when I was very small, and the smell of onion grass is a very strong memory in the area.

A google search brought this up:

http://foodunderfoot.com/tag/onion-grass

Apparently onion grass is edible too, just be sure it smells like onion/chives.

Well that's interesting! If I'm seeing the picture right, the onion grass looks more like a patch of grass, right? These are definitely tall singular strands that are pretty closely spaced and interspersed in the lawn. Maybe I should take a picture and have some of you more knowledgeable gardeners analyze it. They sure do smell like chives, and since they are growing where the garden used to be, that is why I assumed they were an edible plant that had been there on purpose. My ds has munched on a couple and he's fine.

[kcstar]

If it smells like chives, it's safe.

I've even got a bit of onion grass growing in my yard. Now that I know this, I may move some to the garden bed.

[cschick]

Originally Posted by Grace and Granola

I like the idea of being able to move them in and out...but didn't your garage smell like a chive fest all winter?

I didn't have chives over the winter--they actually completely died back in the fall before I brought them in.

But the garage was warm enough to keep the roots in the pot alive until spring. I live in an area that gets pretty cold over the winter--if I'd left the pot out, the roots probably would have died.