CHIVES
Staff writer Tony Flanagan does some chive talking around one of his favourite perennial herbs
VEG AT AGLANCE
At first sight, chives don’t look that much, do they? A clump of green spiky leaves shooting upwards. But added to a salad or other dishes they bring a subtle onion taste without dominating proceedings. And, of course, if you leave them to flower, what a splendid display of purple crowns, much loved by bees!
A member of the onion family, chives (Allium schoenoprasum) are low maintenance and can be grown in the open ground but they do very well in pots too – in fact, they make a super backyard plant.