Onions? Chives?

[jlavado]

Hello everyone, I just bought a house and I noticed that these are growing underneath a burning bush tree in my yard. Sorry for the cell pics but I did these at night:

[img]https://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee166/jlavado/IMAG0010.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee166/jlavado/IMAG0012.jpg[/img]

You can see a bulb in the first pic.

Anyways, when do I pick them out? And how do I keep them going? I live in CT so the frost is coming soon. I know absolutely nothing about gardening but what the heck I'll give it a try...

Any help would be appreciated!

[lily51]

These could be wild onions. If so, I would suggest getting rid of them...very invasive.

[rainbowgardener]

Agree, wild onions which will take over your lawn. But when you dig them up, they are edible just like regular onions, bit milder flavor though.

[jlavado]

I will take a better pic this evening. How certain are you that these are onions? A friend told me they were chives but I don't think he has much of a green thumb either. They are growing near my property line underneath a bush and some pine trees, so they are not in the way. I think it's pretty cool that they are growing there so it's going to be very hard to invade since if they grow out any further, they are going to meet the business end of my lawn mower. I definitely want to confirm that these are edible. Perhaps I will grow more vegetables underground!

[!potatoes!]

chives don't grow bulbs.

[jlavado]

Ok I have better pics now:

[img]https://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee166/jlavado/DSC02418.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee166/jlavado/DSC02420.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee166/jlavado/DSC02421.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee166/jlavado/DSC02423.jpg[/img]

[Kisal]

The don't look at all like chives to me. They look like Grape Hyacinth bulbs. I'm on my phone, and it's very difficult to post pics. If you go to google images and type in grape hyacinth bulbs, you'll see what I mean. Look at some of the pics that show both the flowers and the leaves that have fallen almost on the ground, and again I think you will see what I mean.

[applestar]

I was going to ask about the grape hyacinth possibility as well, although these look a bit light starved.

Easiest way to tell about onion or family likelihood is to bruise a leaf and *smell* it.

You may want to try digging up some of the bulbs and planting them in a sunnier spot where they would grow thicker and less elongated leaves and stems. This is about the right time to plant them (actually a little later in my area) and inmany case, grape hyacinths are pretty hardy and can handle a fair amount of abuse.

If you are interested in growing culinary garlic, you'll want to plant them now (in fall when it's the right time to plant spring bulbs in your area). One separated clove per spot 8-12" apart.

[bullthistle]

Definitely grape hyacinths. They pop up this time of year and the bulb looks right on not like wild onion.