Chives, scallions grow easily in home container gardens

Chives and scallions are herbs grown for their onion-flavored leaves and stems. Like the common garden onion, they are members of the genus Allium, in the lily family.

Onions are an ancient and important plant grown as an annual vegetable for its strong-tasting bulb. Egyptian gardens were famed for the mildness of their onions. Closer to home, Maui is equally well-known for its sweet orbs.

The leaves of onion relatives have many culinary uses, including seasoning in appetizers, soups, salads and sauces and as garnish for virtually any dish, especially my favorite — atop ahi sashimi. In other words, chives and scallions are versatile culinary workhorses that can be used nearly every day in the kitchen.

If you’re an Allium aficionado, there’s really no reason why, with just a little effort, you can’t have fresh, home-grown chives and scallions at your fingertips. Both are very easy to grow with few pest problems. They can be grown in containers with little or no attention other than watering. The convenience of a few containers on a lanai, a table or a rock wall lends itself to success and enjoyment.

CHIVES

Whereas the common chive (Allium schoenoprasum) is grown for its delicate onion flavor, the less familiar garlic chive (A. tuberosum) flavor, as the name implies, is more like garlic (A. sativum). These bulbous herbs grow into neat, slowly expanding clumps of grass-like leaves, making them suitable for use in 1- to 3-gallon pots.

Chives may be grown from seed. However, germination is slow and indeed the most difficult part of growing them. The easiest way to propagate is to acquire the tiny bulbs and plant three or four per pot at a depth of 1 inch. The bulbs multiply rapidly and will fill the pot in short order. Harvest individual leaves as needed and allow the plants to replenish with more foliage. Chive clumps grown this way can be maintained trouble-free in the same pot for years.

SCALLIONS

Scallions are also known as green onions and bunching onions. They are actually bulb onions harvested before maturity, when the bases are only slightly swollen and still very tender, mild and sweet.

Rectangular planter boxes (6 inches by 24 inches by 6 inches deep) made from lightweight plastic work great for green onions. These containers are, in effect, tiny and portable raised beds. Portability allows you to control the amount of sunlight and rainfall they receive and move them to protected locations if storms threaten, and eliminates bending over to ground level.

Green onions are grown from seed. They germinate quickly, within a week or so, and resemble a small blade of grass. When the seedlings begin to crowd one another, thin to 1-inch intervals, and let them go to maturity. Green onions are edible at any stage so you can begin consumption when you start thinning, and then harvest as needed, selecting the fastest growing ones first.

SOIL AND WATER

The biggest problem when growing plants in containers is they can dry out very quickly because their roots are confined to a limited amount of soil. Slow the rate of soil-drying by grouping containers together so the foliage provides shade. This also helps prevent the soil from becoming too hot for healthy plants.

Given the speed with which containers dry out, container-grown plants require soil with specific characteristics. Any good-quality packaged potting media should work fine. These mixes are clean, disease-free, ideal in soil structure, lightweight and easy to use.

You can improve water-holding capacity simply by adding some compost and chicken manure. Moreover, these amendments will provide enough nutrients to eliminate the need for fertilizer.

Chives are maintained perennially, so a little compost and manure (or granular fertilizer) can be sprinkled in their pots once a year or so.

Since chives and scallions are mainly used for seasoning, a little bit goes a long way. One "micro-bed" of green onions will provide all your household needs for at least several months, even if you harvest frequently.