Mom said she had chives growing here and there and everywhere so I went to take a look. These are not chives. She has more sun than me and my chives have been in bloom for over a week. So we pulled up a dozen or so. The bulb at the bottom is very small, like 1/4" but then BENEATH the bulb is ANOTHER bulb of the same size. Others had bulb after bulb, one to the left, one to the right, and so on, all the same size. She took some to the local 'whiz' at the feed store and he said "Wow, never saw anything like that before. But it's an onion, you can eat it." I said, no, no, lets find out what it is before we start chewing on it!
Smell it. All allium members have the same onion scent. Cut one, rub the surface of it on the inside of your arm, and leave it unwashed for 24 hours. If no irritation (and expect some, if it is an onion), then it is safe to sample. Chives can bulb up like that, I've seen it only once in my gardening times, but it happened one year in a neighbours garden. Just all the factors that make for a happy bunch of chives came into play that year, and they went nuts making offspring.
Either that or they watched that Store Wars episode and decided to join the Good Side of the Farm.
I have had chives for over 30 years and once mine got those little bulbs too. I think loamlump is right, you have a happy bunch of chives. B-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LAUS DEO, Where ever I go, there I am. ..... major at nwi dot net ..... Zone 6a, Eastern Washington, sagebrush high desert, Columbia plateau.
Posts: 2511 | Location: Eastern Washington State, zone 6a. | Registered: December 13, 2004
Chewy, the topgrowth of alliums, they don't all smell the same! Chop up some of the greens and smell them! Compare the smell to your chives. Chives smell like chives, period. Nothing else smells exactly like them. And chives don't all come to bloom at the same time.
I've seen garlic chives bulb up like that, too. By God you'll know it, if they're garlic chives, when you chop them up. Egads they stink.
