[cythaenopsis]

^ There's a ton of stuff on-line about trimming back chives, which I read recently. Some people trim it right down to the base, while others suggest either 1" or 2" above the base (never pull a chive so that it pops out of the ground, with the whitish end showing).

I didn't feel right about buzzing off the whole crop in one fell swoop, despite having seen photos of people doing this. So what I did was a kind of "large chive" trimming (it took about a good 15-20 minutes, because I was slow and deliberate). I'd find a cluster with the thickest and longest chives and trim those off, leaving the smaller ones behind. You'll inevitably trim off smaller ones, but that's OK. I just think it's a good idea to leave a healthy cluster of chives behind, because they'll be more effective at photosynthesis than a bunch of chive stumps. The bulbs generally keep an ample supply of resources so that photosynthesis probably isn't critical... still, I found that after trimming, quite a number of the existing chives grew a bit faster and a little wiry. Within about a week, the "bush" was noticeably denser so the chives were feeling pretty good.

I grew mine for several years with not even a drop of fertilizer. This particular time around, every so often when I've got some fertilized water left over from my tomatoes (all of the reservoirs full), I toss that extra into the chives. WOW, did that give 'em a kick, especially when a heavy rain came a few days later--they popped into overdrive. I probably wouldn't do a major cutting but 2 or 3 times a season, one month spaced apart, as long as they're full and lush when you start trimming.