Chive Seeds

Chive Seeds for Planting: Common and Garlic Chives to Grow

Chives are one of the easiest herbs to keep within reach of the kitchen door. A single clump supplies fresh, mild onion flavor for eggs, potatoes, soups, dips, and salads, and the plants are hardy perennials that need very little care once they're established. Our collection of chive seeds includes both common chives and garlic chives, so you can grow the classic grassy herb alongside its bolder, more savory cousin. Growing chives from seed costs far less than buying established plants, and it's a rewarding way to start an herb garden.

Chive Seeds for Sale: Common Chives and Garlic Chives

When you browse chive seeds for sale, the first choice is which type you want. Common chives have slender, hollow, grass-like leaves with a gentle onion taste, and they produce round, purple pom-pom flowers in late spring that are as pretty as they are edible. Garlic chives, also known as Chinese chives or Chinese leeks, grow flat, ribbon-like leaves with a distinct garlic flavor, and they send up white, star-shaped flowers in late summer. Garlic chives are a staple of stir-fries, dumplings, and savory pancakes, and they're lovely snipped over noodles or grilled meats.

Both types are open-pollinated and grow in tidy, expanding clumps, so they work well in herb beds, flower borders, and along the edges of vegetable gardens. The blooms attract bees and other pollinators, which makes chives a useful companion plant throughout the garden.

Growing Chives from Seed: Start Early and Be Patient

Chive seeds are slow to wake up, so a little patience goes a long way. For the earliest harvest, start seeds indoors six to eight weeks before your last spring frost, sowing them about a quarter inch deep in moist seed-starting mix and keeping them in a cool room around 60 to 70°F. You can also sow directly outdoors in early spring as soon as the soil can be worked. Expect sprouts in one to two weeks, sometimes longer. Thin or space seedlings about six to eight inches apart in full sun to part shade, and keep the soil evenly moist while they get established. Begin harvesting lightly once plants reach about six inches tall. The Seedtime planting calendar works out your sowing dates from your frost dates, and the layout planner helps you find a permanent spot for perennial herbs.

Buy Chives Seeds with One Flat Shipping Rate

When you order chives seeds here, you can combine packets from different suppliers in one order and pay one flat shipping rate rather than a separate shipping charge for each supplier. Seedtime members also get discounts on seed packets, so if you're planning a full herb garden, compare Seedtime's plans to see what membership includes. It's an easy way to find the best seeds for chives and the rest of your kitchen garden in one order.