Pruning helps keep the plant healthy, full, and flavorful.
You can and should hard prune your chive plant — especially if it's getting overgrown, floppy, or starting to flower heavily.
The ideal time to give your chives a good prune is just after they have finished blooming. You can first harvest the blooms (more on that here), and then prune the plant.
Why it Helps
The plant will likely regrow strongly, so it isn't unusual to prune it back two, even three times a season. Pruning stimulates new, tender growth that tastes better than old growth, prevents woody/tough stems, delays reseeding (which can lead to chives popping up everywhere), and keeps the plant tidy and compact.
For a continuous harvest, snip as needed.
How to Hard Prune Chives
Use clean scissors or shears.
Divide the plant with your fingers into sections, and cut each back to about 2 inches above the soil for all sections.
Water well after pruning to encourage quick regrowth.
Here's a video that shows the hard prune process and how quickly chives regrow.
Use the Blooms!
There are a multitude of ways to use chive blossoms - here are ideas:
The ideal time to give your chives a good prune is just after they have finished blooming. You can first harvest the blooms (more on that here), and then prune the plant.
Why it Helps
The plant will likely regrow strongly, so it isn't unusual to prune it back two, even three times a season. Pruning stimulates new, tender growth that tastes better than old growth, prevents woody/tough stems, delays reseeding (which can lead to chives popping up everywhere), and keeps the plant tidy and compact.
For a continuous harvest, snip as needed.
How to Hard Prune Chives
Use clean scissors or shears.
Divide the plant with your fingers into sections, and cut each back to about 2 inches above the soil for all sections.
Water well after pruning to encourage quick regrowth.
Here's a video that shows the hard prune process and how quickly chives regrow.
Use the Blooms!
There are a multitude of ways to use chive blossoms - here are ideas:
- Compound Butter
Mix chopped chive blossoms into softened butter to create a flavorful compound butter. This can be used on bread, grilled vegetables, or meats.
- Egg and Potato Dishes
Add chopped blossoms to omelets, scrambled eggs, potato salad, or mashed potatoes.
- Other Dishes
Incorporate them into savory biscuits, pancakes, or cornbread batter.
- Salt
Dry chive blossoms with lemon zest and mix with salt to create a unique and flavorful seasoning salt.
- Cheese
Use them to flavor cream cheese or mix with goat cheese for a lighter, fresher cheese and onion flavor.
- Pesto
Substitute basil with chive blossoms in your favorite pesto recipe.
- Garnish
Sprinkle the blossoms over salads, soups, pasta dishes, or even cocktails. They add a pop of color and a subtle onion flavor. - Vinegar Infusion
Soak chive blossoms in white vinegar to create a beautiful pink-colored vinegar with a mild chive flavor. This can be used in salad dressings, marinades, or as a pickling liquid.