Help!!!! Any Ideas, Anyone???

I can't grow chives. They don't like me.

I follow the instructions on the seed packet to the letter. I've tried several years in a row, several times each year, with no luck (OK that's not true - last year I had one solitary chive make its way up out of the soil).

To add insult to injury, a friend of mine stopped growing them because they took over her garden.

Ah, but that's not all... this year, my lettuce has gone the way of the chives. I'm on my third planting now, and NOTHING has sprouted. In previous years I've grown more lettuce than I can eat, and this year a friend's neighbour has rows and rows and rows.

Anyone out there have a similar experience? Am I just jinxed??