We have life! Outdoor life!!
It may not seem like much, but those sprigs of green popping out of that mound of dead?? That’s an early Spring, y’all! My chives have sprouted OUTSIDE in FEBRUARY!!
Even the moss (which will find it’s way to a pot of chives on it’s own, if you let it go naturally) refused to die this “winter.” One of our squirrel neighbors tried to bury a few things in it, but it is still plush! 
I’ve had this particular pot of chives for almost a decade. It was one of the first plants that made me realize I could have a green thumb. Really. Nothing kills this thing.
The pot sits firmly on my deck rail (like this one I purchased on Amazon) all year long. I remember starting the seeds with a bag of seed-starting dirt, but I honestly don’t think I’ve ever added anything else to it. Other than water, of course.
Like a grassy hedge, the chives naturally die in late fall, as frost settles in. Unlike other potted plants, I fight the urge to clean up the dead mess, and just let it make a little nest on itself. The new plant emerges in Spring (or, February, this year). The old roots and most of the dead chives break back down into the dirt.
I really have no idea how that moss happens. But I hear that it’s totally normal. And also helps blanket the chives during the winter months.
Soon, they will look like this again!
I’ll post updates as it progresses, along with the rest of the deck-and-pot garden! 2017 is going to be very productive, I can tell already!