Chives
Chives are one of the easiest herbs to grow. They'll fill a large pot within a matter of months, and once your plants are established they'll come back year after year.
The leaves have many uses, not least, for delicious potato salad. The flowers can be eaten too and are guaranteed to make any salad look ten times more interesting.
Time from seed to plate: 12 weeks
Sowing Calendar
Sow
April, May and June are the best months to sow chives. You can use a grow bed, but I prefer a nice wide pot because chives are pretty plants, and pots are portable so you can position them where they'll get noticed.
Fill your pot with compost and firm it down gently with your palm. Scatter your chive seeds leaving about a couple of centimetres between each one.
Sprinkle over a fine layer of compost to just cover the seeds, and water gently to moisten the compost.
Place outside, scattered with a few slug pellets.
Growing method: Extra wide pots
Grow
Nothing! Just keep an eye out for slugs and snails.
Harvest
You can start snipping off leaves at around 6-8 weeks from sowing. For flowers you'll have to wait until 12 weeks.
Don't hold back when you cut it. Chives are extremely vigourous and will quickly recover from a severe chopping during the summer.
The leaves will disappear during winter, but the plant's still alive. It will surge forth again in Feb/Mar the following year so don't chuck it away.