Dividing Chives

These garlic chives are very hardy. They survived the entire winter outside and then began sending up new growth in mid to late Februrary. Started from seed sometime last June, they've become quite rootbound. They are so packed in that water slips right through the container. This is a perfect time to divide this plant.

Having never done this before, I improvised and used a bit of commonsense as my guide. After wetting down the root system, I used a trowel to divide the plant into quaters. Without a doubt, I was tearing apart roots, but this is a resilient plant and it should transplant nicely.

Once the plant was divided up I rounded up several sizes of containers. It's hard to say just how deep of a container this plant needs, so it'll be interesting to see how it does in a range of sizes. Mixing together old soil from last year with some new stuff, the chives were set flush with the new soil line. Finally, I mixed up some Miracle Gro and gave them a good watering.

Chives supposedly bloom in May or June, so I've got my fingers crossed. Either way, they look great in a pot. Here are the finished results. I hope they will begin to spread out and fill the containers.