Just saw this statement in another post and thought I'd add to my first by saying that they are in all kinds of soil, the best to the worst. Also they flowered like mad and look very healthy. "The best flavour comes when they have to work hard for a feed!"

James - any herbs you buy in Waitrose, or any other supermarket, are intended for short lives as growing cookery ingredients, rather than as long term pot plants. They are a grocery store, not a garden centre and as such sell to eat, not to grow. Their herbs are forced along in warm, light greenhouses specifically to look good in the veg section. They even skew the lighting in that section to emphasise the greenness of the produce. Your chives actually look very good for plants from a supermarket and there are no grounds for complaint to Waitrose. They do need repotting if you want them to last as growing plants. If they don't survive I'd buy a new potful from a garden centre. BTW Basil from the supermarket veg section is going to be a clump of seedlings, not an individual plant. Splitting the clump will not hurt it as long as each section has roots. Basil is also incredibly easy to grow from seed so you could sow some right now indoors. Watering from the bottom is a cinch. Get something deeper than a saucer for each plant. e.g yoghurt/marge/corttage cheese tub. Put the plant pot into it and fill the tub with water. Leave about 15 minutes. Pour out any excess water from the tub. Then leave your plants in peace.

I have Garlic Chive seed for 3 or 4 people that message me.

beesneeds good idea. For sure when I first cut flowers the plant gets MAD and produces a lot more. I have learned my lesson letting certain things flower (dill & carrots) and was picking hundreds of unwanted new plants. It works good and I figure it is a lot quicker then pulling the new plants. I pull them off when I walk by every few days.