A Guide for Harvesting Garlic Chives

With its great taste, knowing how to harvest garlic chives will be a skill you will want to cultivate, as it will make it easier for you to use this herb. Here are the things you will have to do.

Step 1 on how to harvest garlic chives: clip the herb

When you start to collect leaves from this herb, it is essential that you shear the plant almost right down to the surface. This is absolutely vital to ensure that the herb will continue to produce high quality and flavorful leaves. If you cannot use all of the leaves you can give them away, or you can add it to the compost in the soil.

Step 2 on how to harvest garlic chives: check the leaves before cooking

This is something you do not just do when planting and nurturing the herbs, but all the more when you are about to include them in your recipes. Even if you use the right kind of fertilizers, you should still go over the leaves that you have picked. If it is hot, make certain that there are no ants or any other small insects here.

Step 3 on how to harvest garlic chives: store in wet towels

One of the things that every gardener needs to know is that the storing needs of plants differ. For example, anise must not be covered with damp cloth, but that is exactly what the garlic chive needs. Cover the leaves in wet paper towels, set inside a bottle, close the lid, and put in the fridge. However keep in mind that it might lose some flavor anyway, especially if you have chopped them. Ideally garlic chives should be consumed on the day it was picked.

Step 4 on how to harvest garlic chives: care for the plant after collecting

Even though it may produce leaves consistently after harvesting, it will only do so provided it is regularly looked over. Go over the plants and make sure there aren’t any pests lurking around. Also, if there is excessive heat or too much rain, adjust the amount of watering you do on the plants accordingly. Too much or too little will hurt its growth or even cause the leaves to fade.

If you had some reservations about learning how to harvest garlic chives, thinking that it was a difficult job, the facts outlined above will have set your worries to rest. Now you can plant and collect these herbs with confidence.