Comments on: Swiss Chard

By: Home Vegetable Gardening – Growing Swiss Chard » Article Wonderland

Home Vegetable Gardening – Growing Swiss Chard » Article Wonderland — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 22:44:58 +0000

[...] Swiss Chard — Veggie … Swiss Chard can survive frigid winter conditions to produce additional early spring harvests when garden fresh vegetables are at a premium. Growing Swiss Chard in the Home Garden [...]

By: Rich Laska

Rich Laska — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 14:53:37 +0000

As an experiment, I brought transplanted three mature rainbow chard plants into my greenhouse. The leaves had pretty much frozen back. They are doing wonderfully, but it takes a lot of energy to keep them alive when the wind chill last night was 2 degrees.

By: Kenny Point

Kenny Point — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 02:59:01 +0000

Hi Scott, I’m not sure what to recommend for starting Swiss Chard in your growing region. Here in Central Pennsylvania I direct sow the seed in early spring but after things have warmed up a bit. Established chard plants can tolerate some frost but will not grow under freezing conditions. I would just experiment with various planting times to determine what works best during your mild winters. You could also try some hardier leafy greens like kale, mustard, and collards, which will survive and continue growing under much colder conditions than chard will.

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 13:59:29 +0000

When is the best time to start Swiss Chard? I’m down south of Houston, so the winter will be very mild and I’m looking for something to do once my okra gives up its last hurrah soon.

By: Kenny Point

Kenny Point — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 11:59:53 +0000

Hi Rich, I doubt that the mature Swiss Chard plants would tolerate being dug up and transplanted very well. It would probably work better to grow a chard plant in a container and move that indoors. Growth and leaf production would depend on how much light you can provide for the plants.

By: Rich

Rich — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 16:48:51 +0000

Is it practical to dig up a rainbow chard plant and grow it indoors? How long will it continue to produce good leaves?

By: Joy

Joy — Sun, 04 May 2008 15:57:58 +0000

If you plant the white chard with the fat stems, especially with a little afternoon shade in the hottest areas, you get two products for the price of one. The stems can be “strung” like celery, and then braised / simmered for meaty-textured, savory dish. Plain salt and pepper is enough, but they stand up to all sorts of things. Cumin and corriander…or basil, marjoram and tomatoes…curry…red peppers and coconut milk… all quite decent. You can also make refrigerator pickles. (I don’t know how they stand up to longer pickling or canning. Wash well and try.) The leaves (tough ribs ideally stripped out) can be cooked like any greens. They are not as tender as spinach or sorrel, but MUCH faster-cooking than kale or collards. Comparable to young beet greens, and with a hint of the same flavors. If you want to throw in wild greens, I seem to remember that they cook OK, time-wise, with Fat Hen (chenipodium, a common weed in most parts) or garlic mustard (a common weed in some parts). Very good for you, very yummy. Don’t cut the whole bunch at once, just keep picking stems off, and they’ll keep going until frost. Cover them (hoops and plastic) and you may bring them through several light frosts.

By: Kenny Point

Kenny Point — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:40:50 +0000

Hello Sue, I never break up the swiss chard seeds (or even beet seeds for that matter) before planting, and even though the seeds resemble a compound type of seed the seedlings usually germinate into individual plants that don’t require as much thinning as beet seedlings.