Dying chives

[skeptic7]

After years without problems, a bunch of my chinese chives have died. They were fine earlier this spring, and then looked a little droopy. I put some composted cow manure near them, but now all the younger plants and some of the older ones have just withered up and died.
I think it was a fungus problem -- damping off disease, only the plants were fine during wet weather and succumbed as the weather dried up. Should I do anything for the surviving plants? Do they need to be dug up and moved?

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[Mike Nolan]

If you actually managed to kill chives, you should go in the Gardener's Hall of Fame!

My mother had workers tear down her garage and build a much larger one covering up a large part of her garden, including the chive patch, and a year later they came up again about a foot from the new wall.

If you think there's something wrong with your chives, just get a small pot of them at a nursery and start over in a different part of your garden, in 1-2 years you'll have a thriving colony again.

[skeptic7]

I had transplanted 10 bunches of chives last year to the other side of the garden. These are doing fine. I've have maybe 1/4 of the original chives left. The smaller plants are definitely dead but some of the larger chives survived. I think I'll leave the survivors alone and see if they will recover. I don't need to replace my chives.

[skeptic7]

The surviving chives seem to have recovered and now look green and strong. Does anyone have advice about rosemary? Any favorite recipes?

[rottiedogs]

I use rosemary in my marinade for lamb - olive oil, lemon juice, rosemary and oregano. I have a wonderful rosemary-thyme bread recipe that I always make when going to someone's new home. I will post it.

Rosemary is supposed to be a perennial but mine never comes back. All that does are my chives. My herbs are all potted so I think that may have something to do with it. All the pots live on the plant stand right outside my kitchen door so I all I have to do is go out with the scissors and snip when I need them.

[BakerAunt]

I have posted my chicken, sweet potatoes, maple syrup, and rosemary recipe.

It's also good on roasted chicken breasts with potatoes and carrots roasted along side.

[Mike Nolan]

Rosemary is zone 7 or 8, freezing will kill it. It will survive here if planted in a pot and brought in over the winter, but it needs plenty of sunshine and apparently more TLC than we give it, because we almost always lose it over the winter, probably by failing to water it properly. My wife's sister, who has published a book on gardening, has a big rosemary plant in her living room that she's had for years, so it's possible to keep it going here in Nebraska. But she has a nice south-facing window in her living room, we don't.

[luvpyrpom]

I have never been able to grow chives for a long period of time. All the times I tried, they've been indoor plants, in the north facing window and suddenly, they're overcome with black aphids. The only herb I've been able to grow successfully was the basil plants that I finally had to do away as I just couldn't keep up with the supply it was producing.

[Mike Nolan]

I've always grown chives outside, and once you get them started they're very hardy from year to year, in fact the problem is they spread out and migrate to other areas of the garden. We have a big patch of chives in the front garden that, as far as I know, neither of us put there, we can probably thank the birds for it.

People say basil is self-seeding, I've never had much luck with that. I've had better luck with oregano, we've had a couple patches of it that have come up multiple years, though I'm not sure I've seen it this year (but I haven't specifically looked for it, either.)

[luvpyrpom]

I do remember putting one of the chives out and it started to thrive. I would use it if I hadn't seen the dog "water" it several times. And the Lily of the Valley plants that my mother had planted nearby has overtaken it too. I tried to grow thyme but it got totally moldy after a few weeks. I don't cook much with fresh herbs except for chives/onions. Now if I could only get one to grow year round without the aphid problems.

[BakerAunt]

Aphids are a particular problem indoors, as there are no predators to control them. I had a similar problem with my lime tree, which was attacked by scale. My husband, a plant physiologist, helped me save it, and it spends its time outdoors, except in the winter or when there are freezing temperatures.

[skeptic7]

I live in Virginia so my rosemary has been outside for the past three years. Before that I lived in an apartment and took the rosemary inside during the winter. The last year it wasn't getting enough sun as it was such a big pot that the smaller plants were between it and the window, so when I moved into a house I planted it outside and hoped for the best.
Its on the South side of a brick house so that shelters it from the worst of the winter wind and cold. I lost a lot of branches this past winter but that was partly the cold and partly a very severe scale infestation. I tried oil sprays but couldn't get the scale under control and many of the weakened branches died.
I only have experience with one Rosemary plant in one location, but I think keeping it alive in the winter requires a lot of sunlight meaning a South or West window. It doesn't need a lot of water indoors but shouldn't be let to dry out. Possibly water it throughly once a week.

Chives are very hardy. You should be able to grow them outside in even the coldest of climates. Mine have recovered from the fungus or whatever and are now lush and green again. Have you tried washing off the aphids with soapy water? Put the whole pot in the kitchen sink before starting to reduce the mess? Or try washing it off with plain water too.

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