Hi. Somehow my entire front yard/garden is covered in a thick layer of chives. They come back in increasing numbers every year.
How can I stop them shy of removing the top couple inches of soil?
Attached is a picture of à few I pulled out which shows their little bulbs.
Hello fellow gardener! Sorry to hear that chives are taking over your garden. They certainly self-seed with liberal abandon and have very few pest or diseases.
To prevent chives from creating more seeds this year, cut off the flower heads before the seeds mature (the flower heads will fade as the seeds mature). You can remove the entire flowering stem to about 1-2” above the soil level if you prefer a neater look. Do this every year to control new growth.
To deal with the chives already in your garden, I would suggest using a garden fork to loosen and lift the bulbs out of the soil. I wish there was an easier way to remove them. Pulling on plants may work if your soil is very loose and sandy but usually just removes the green leaves, leaving the bulbs (as shown in your photo) in the soil to grow again. Watering the day before should help loosen the soil a bit.
Don’t place the seeds or plants in your home composter. They should go into yard waste bags or bagged in plastic and thrown away in the garbage.
More information about chives can be found in the Toronto Master Gardeners Guide: How to Grow Chives/Garlic Chives . It has several links in case you want to learn more about the species you have: regular, or onion chives (Allium schoenoprasum) or garlic chives (Allium tuberosum).
May 20, 2024