Chives 'Fine Leaf' Seeds

'Fine Leaf' is a slimmer, more compact chive, ideal for a kitchen windowsill or a patio pot, with the mild onion flavour that finishes eggs, potatoes and soft cheese. Allium schoenoprasum 'Fine Leaf' forms tidy clumps of thin, hollow, deep green leaves that regrow quickly after cutting. In early summer it sends up round pink-lilac pompom flowers, which are edible and loved by bees. Chives are one of the French fines herbes, alongside chervil, parsley and tarragon.

Sowing and growing

• Sow indoors March to April, or outdoors April to June, in small clumps
• Depth: 1cm
• Germination: 10 to 21 days
• Position: sun or part shade in moist, fertile soil; thrives in pots
• Height: about 20cm, with a spread of 20cm
• Harvest: snip leaves from about 8 to 10 weeks after sowing; flowers May to July
• Hardy perennial: dies back in winter and regrows each spring; divide clumps every few years

What you receive: a packet of about 150 seeds from Piccolo Seeds, with growing instructions on the back.

Grow it with chervil and parsley in our Kitchen Herbs Seed Collection, leave a few clumps to flower for bees and pollinators, or browse all our herb seeds.