harvesting my garlic chives

Whilst I impatiently wait for this year's crops to be ready for harvesting, I thought I'd experiment with some recipes using herbs from my herb garden.


Last year I created a herb garden and planted out a whole lot of herbs including rosemary, sage, lemon thyme, marjoram, mint, lemon grass and parsley. One of my biggest successes so far has been two large bunches of garlic chives which produce more than enough for my needs, despite my love of Chinese cooking.

I try and aim to cut back my chives up to four times a year (once per season) as apparently this ensures that they never get too old and lose their flavour. However, I haven't had a chance to cut back my chives for a while and they've gone a bit wild, flowering beautifully but taking over the herb patch. 

To harvest my chives, I cut them about 1-2 inches above the ground.  I then rinse them, removing the flower stalks and any dead (brown) stalks.  I make a flower arrangement out of the flower stalks.