Jun 11, 2026 / By Anas Heaba / in Growing Guides
Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) are one of the easiest perennial herbs you can keep in an Egyptian garden or on a balcony. Known locally as ثوم معمر (perennial garlic), they give you slim, hollow green leaves with a gentle onion-garlic flavour, plus pretty purple flowers in spring. This is the true Allium schoenoprasum chive, which is different from the Chinese or garlic chive (Allium tuberosum) that shops sell separately. Here is how to grow it successfully in our climate.
Chives are a hardy, low-maintenance perennial. Once a clump establishes, it comes back season after season and keeps producing fresh leaves you can snip straight into salads, eggs, soups and cheese. The plants are generally trouble-free, take up very little space, and grow happily in a pot or a garden bed. As a cool-season herb, chives fit our mild Egyptian winters perfectly.
Chives are a cool-season crop that goes dormant or struggles in summer heat, so the best window to sow seed or set out clumps in Egypt is the mild-winter period, roughly November to February. This lines the germination and active growth phase up with soil temperatures near the ideal 15-21 C and avoids the hot summer. In the cooler, more humid Delta, plants stay productive from autumn through spring. In hotter Upper Egypt, sow as early in autumn as the soil cools, and during the scorching summer give the clumps partial or afternoon shade with porous shade fabric and steady moisture to carry them through to the next cool season.
Grow chives in well-drained soil rich in organic matter, at a pH of 6.0-7.0, in full sun (6+ hours) or partial shade; 6-8 hours of direct light is best. Sow seed at a depth of 0.5-1 cm, cover lightly, and water well. For best germination keep the soil around 15-21 C; seeds typically sprout in about 7-14 days at the warmer end of that range. Thin or space plants 15-20 cm apart so each clump has room to fill in over time. In cold spells you can start seed indoors and plant out once seedlings reach about 10 cm tall, allowing roughly 10-15 cm between plants. Rooted clumps are easiest planted in spring after frost danger passes.
Go easy here. Soil that is rich in organic matter usually supplies all the nutrients chives need, and over-fertilizing actually does harm. If a plant looks weak, apply a single light dose of 5-10-5 fertilizer once in spring. For chives grown in containers or indoors, feed a liquid fertilizer at half the recommended strength every 4-6 weeks during the growing season, and no more.
Keep the soil moist while the plants are in active growth. Water newly planted chives during dry spells through their first summer. Once established in the ground, plants need little extra water except in prolonged drought, but container plants must have their compost kept evenly moist. Water deeply when rain is infrequent and use a light mulch to hold moisture. Chives are usually trouble-free, but watch for aphids, onion thrips, onion maggot, bulb mites, and leek/onion rust, as well as downy mildew or root rot in poorly drained, overcrowded or over-watered conditions. Good drainage, adequate spacing, and watering in the morning are your main defences.
You can harvest leaves from spring right through to autumn. Snip with scissors just above the base, about 2-3 cm above the soil, whenever you need fresh chives. Regular cutting keeps new leaves coming, and cutting close to the base triggers the most vigorous regrowth. In spring and summer (around April-May) the plants send up purple, star-shaped flower clusters; once they fade, remove the spent flower stalks at the soil line to keep the clump tidy and productive.
To get started, choose fresh, true-to-type chive seed. At tna W rna you can order chives seeds (Allium schoenoprasum) and have them delivered across Egypt. Sow them in the cool season as described above, keep the soil moist while they germinate, and within a couple of weeks you will have your first seedlings on the way to a perennial clump you can harvest for years.
Jun 11, 2026 by Anas Heaba
Jun 11, 2026 by Anas Heaba
