One of the herbs I've been growing over the past few years is chives. Back in 2009 I was gifted a pot of a moderately mature plant, with maybe 4-5 small bulbs in the soil. All I would do to it is water periodically and leave it outside during the warmer months. When the cool air of autumn would come around, I'd bring the plant indoors and continue a light watering up through December, then stop. Then in late February/early March, I'd start watering again. The plant would spring back into action almost on cue.
I didn't realize it, but the plant produced more bulbs. This season, it was getting particularly dense growth. Previously I wouldn't harvest all that much from the plant, only picking some chive shoots here and there for soups, potatoes, sauces, and eggs. But I was feeling bad about seeing so many shoots eventually dry up due to age. It seemed like such a waste. At one time I'd harvested a cluster of chives, dried them, and then chopped them up for later use but the taste significantly diminishes when the chives are dried. My usual practice has been to chop off about a half-dozen shoots, stick them in a small ziplock bag, and put them in the refrigerator. But guaranteed, after a week or so they'd turn a pale green and eventually yellow.
Recently, I stumbled upon a tip on-line about freezing chives. I tested it out with a few shoots and was amazed to see how well they hold up, with no diminishing of flavor. So...
I harvested a hearty helping of chives, cut them up, and stuck them in the freezer. I've been enjoying them this way for several weeks and I'm now convinced that this is the way to go. Meanwhile, after harvesting a good 40% of the chive crop, it grew back rather ferociously. I can see doing this every few weeks during the peak growing season and amassing a terrific amount of chives for use all throughout the year.
My technique for storing them is to first wrap them in wax paper, then place it in a ziplock bag, press all the air out and seal it, then lay it on a flat surface inside the freezer. They thaw out so fast, you'd almost forget they'd come from the freezer.
About harvesting, I've read that it's best to cut chives off at about 1-2" above the base. You never want to pull chives completely out of the ground (where you see a whitish end). I've seen people cut off an entire crop of chive shoots in one fell swoop, and they do grow back. But I prefer to cut off a good portion of the larger chives, leaving a healthy population untouched so that the plant is still receiving a good amount of nutrients from photosynthesis. I think this helps account for the robust re-growth I noticed 2 weeks after I'd made that rather large harvest.
Incidentally, I've read that chives tend to grow about 8-10" long, but I had some that were 16-17" long. Not sure if it's just a characteristic of this variety or if the fertilizer I've been sporadically adding influenced it.
Chives are a terrific herb. You get the benefit of a nice onion flavor to accentuate your food, while not getting the lingering taste/breath that is so well known with onions. Plus, they're easier to handle and store for later use. I braved the task of extracting my chive crop from its pot and separating the bulbs to re-plant. Overall, it went well and I'll post about it later [here].
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