Growing Chives (Koo Chye)

These are my chives, locally known as koo chye, grown in a polystyrene container transplanted since February this year. I started planting them when my neighbor back in my hometown, Melaka, dug out a few of her plants and gave them to me. I was hesitant and advised her against digging them out and I told her to just save some seeds for me. A generous lady with a green thumb and who grows beautiful orchids, she assured me that the plants will survive and the remaining few in her pots will not die even though the roots got disturbed. Well, she was absolutely right and not only did they survive but they kept growing and growing and growing. Chive is a really wonderful cut and grow again herb. Snip some off today and you'll find new shoots growing a few days later. However, according to my sister, the seeds seem to take a long time to germinate. Guess I'm lucky that I did not have to wait! But I guess it's still worth the wait because once the seeds germinate and the plants got established, you can be sure to have an endless supply of these herbs for years to come. I've not sowed any seeds but I've collected hundreds of them. My plants have flowered several times and often, profusely. The blooms consist of tiny white flowers that become seeds when they dry off. From my observation, it seems that chives can grown even in clay soil like my neighbor's plants. Mine are grown in soil for growing vegetable that I purchased in a nearby nursery here. I gave them an occasional feed of organic humus.

Here are my chives in a polystyrene container since February this year

Lots of flowers and seeds

The green pods are newly formed seeds, which will dry off and turn black 

when ready to be picked and stored, or sowed

A flower bud about to unfurl. The whole flower bud stem is tender and 

can be eaten but once the bud starts to open and bloom fully, 

the stem becomes woody

A couple of months ago, my backyard went through a landscape change and I decided to create a low raised bed for vegetables instead of growing them in containers because some garden creepy crawlies seem to love resting under the container and I'm trying to not give them many 'homes' to rest in my garden. So, two weeks ago I dug out each clump and below shows the root system of chives. With a garden shears, I snipped off most of the roots, leaving only about an inch and replanted them on the veggie bed. Few days later, some leaves had turned yellow and I snipped off all my chives as I figured the roots needed some time to re-energize. I had to sacrifice the flowers and young seeds but a collection of flower stems make a really pretty mini bouquet. So, all was not lost.

The root system. Chives can be grown closely together as they like to group up.

Transplanted onto the veggie bed

A delicate and pretty bouquet and seeds

Here they are growing again few days after snipping

Fast grower - here they are two weeks after snipping

Happy gardening!

Backyard Update March '12

My backyard has gone through several transformations since we moved in slightly over 2 yrs ago. Main challenge in maintaining it was of course, every home gardener's nightmare...weeds weeds and weeds that are so stubborn and just wouldn't die off no matter how many roots you pull out. The weeds root system is so invasive that they would just grow and grow in the whole row of backyard from one neighbor to another. We got tired of seeing how messy the backyard can get with overgrown weeds (and they grow so fast!!) and becoming potential home for snakes (yes, they have been spotted!!!), so we decided to lay bricks and tiles. The weeds still find its way out for sunlight at every nook and corner but overall they are pretty much under better control now. We've also started to plant in polystyrene containers collected from anywhere and everywhere we can get. There's a long list of plants yet to be planted but in the last 2 months or so, here are what that are growing.

Currently there are bamboo mustard green (2 stalks left as I've harvested some already - I don't quite like this variety as it's kinda bitter), spring onions, celery, chives, beetroot, radish, ladies' finger and brinjal plants. My dwarf beans in the top left container do not seem to be sprouting this time. I planted 6 seeds and only 1 has sprouted.

Here's a beetroot. It's tiny but I'm not complaining. Think I'll probably juice it with a mixture of other fruits.

Flower of chive. My neighbor in Melaka gave me a few of her plants and I re-planted them after a few hours later. I thought they wouldn't survive but they did. In fact, they've surpassed my expectation. Chive plants seem to transplant easily and although they may look like they're wilting in the first few days after transplanting, just leave them be. They just need some time to pick things up. Chives are great as cut-and-grow again. New shoots will start growing in just a matter of few days only. Our plants are flowering quite frequently. I'll be collecting the seeds for sure.




Winged bean plant. Needs to be transplanted into a 5 gallon bucket. Am trying to see if it can thrive in a pot. Hope it can and that we'll get some beans for chili stir fry soon.




The winged bean plant will soon grow on the top level vertical trellis. Am saving the smaller lower level trellis for cucumbers. Hopefully they will sprout successful first of all.

Here's another pic of the top level trellis. We've laid 2x2 feet tiles to prevent weeds. This is my short cut trellis. 3 long poles inserted randomly in and out of the chicken coop wire and just stick them into the ground. Not sure if they will hold, so only time will tell, if my winged bean grows successfully.




Our 2nd bitter gourd from the same single plant we have.

One of the radish plant has started to flower.

Plan to sow more seeds next week when time permits. Happy gardening!