Garlic Chives are very easy to grow, and are a perennial* herb that will last for years in the garden. They are very useful in the kitchen, plus the blooms are beautiful and attract a ton of pollinators and beneficial insects. If you love garlic, then you'll love garlic chives!
Above: A beautiful gray hairstreak (Strymon melinus) butterfly on Garlic Chives – not only are they useful in the kitchen, they also attract a ton of pollinators including bees, moths, hoverflies, and beneficial wasps.
Garlic Chives in bloom are elegant, beautiful flowers in the vegetable garden. Although they are deliciously edible, this perennial is more often used as an ornamental – we grow them for both purposes. They add beauty and attract pollinators to the garden, and bloom typically in mid-to-late summer through autumn, making them a great later-blooming pollinator magnet for your veggie garden. They are one of the prettiest vegetables in our opinion! Unlike common chives with hollow, round leaves, garlic chives feature flat, solid green leaves, that are easy to harvest and use in lots of recipes.
Garlic Chive greens are delicious, snip them into green salads, potato salads, or use as a baked potato topping. Add chopped garlic chive greens to dumplings, fried rice, noodle dishes, and clear Asian-style broths. Or steep bruised leaves in white vinegar or olive oil for garlic flavor.
In addition to bringing great garlic flavor to your food, Garlic Chives are healthy, too! They contain vitamin C and beneficial sulfur compounds that help your body fight infections, and they have high levels of vitamin K assist in building strong bones and maintaining bone density. Plus, their natural dietary fiber and gentle antibacterial properties promote a healthy gut and regular digestion. Garlic Chives also have active compounds like allicin and potassium help regulate blood pressure and support healthy cholesterol levels, while their antioxidants including beta-carotene and lutein protect your cells from oxidative damage and support eye health. So they don't just taste good, they are good for you.
We like to add chopped Garlic Chives along with bunching green onions to our spicy zucchini fritters to add lots of great flavor.
When in full bloom, your Garlic Chives will be buzzing with lots of pollinators including bumblebees, beneficial (pest-eating) wasps and of course honeybees.
You can also eat the green seed heads before they dry, they taste like garlic and are great in stir fries, soups, or pickled like capers. Every garden should include some Garlic Chives!
Grow more herbs in your garden to enjoy more homegrown food and spices. Sandia Seed offers a discounted Herb seed bundle that includes these special treats, as well as Basil, Oregano, Parsley and Cilantro. Oregano, Parsley and Garlic Chives are perennial so they will provide you with a long season and years of harvests.
* Perennial means you only have to plant them once, and they will come back for years to come. On that note: Garlic Chives WILL spread and reseed themselves if allowed to go to seed. It is best to deadhead the spent blooms before they completely dry to brown and start to drop seeds – this will keep them from reseeding if you don't want them to spread all over. We like to keep them contained in a corner of our vegetable garden along the perimeter where they charm us with blooms every summer. We harvest and eat any garlic chive volunteers to keep them at bay.
