GROW IT
Bring some green indoors with chives
November 5, 2009
Sonia Day
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
Chives Allium schoenoprasum
The spring bulbs are planted. My back – ouch – aches from spreading sheep poop on the veggie beds. And there's one last gardening chore left outside: digging up a chunk of chives.
In most gardens (including mine), these boisterous members of the onion family become an ugly mess of long yellowing leaves and dried up detritus by summer's end. Yet underneath all that dead stuff, they're still raring to go – and it's easy to give them a new lease on life indoors.
Simply administer a military haircut to the whole plant, then whack a chunk of the root ball off with a sharp spade. (This can mean enlisting the help of a brawny male, especially if roots are densely packed). Plant the chunk in a pot that provides room to expand and keep it in a well-lit location. Surprisingly soon, fresh new tendrils will start popping up.
I learned this trick from herb guru Conrad Richter, who says bringing chives in for the winter is common practice in Germany. And how good it feels, when there's not a single green thing in evidence outside the window, to snip off your own super-fresh chives with scissors.
They add a touch of class to anything – soups, salads, sauces, the top of a casserole. And these container-grown versions will survive quite well if they're kept watered and cut back often. (Don't let them flower.)
So, three cheers for chives – probably the best herb on the planet to help combat our long, boring winters.
www.soniaday.com.
Toronto Star