Swiss chard is the perfect cool weather vegetable. It has a long season in zone 3 to 5.ย Simply harvest the outside leaves and it will continue growing until snowfall.ย
A member of the beet family, with a mild, spinach-like flavor, Chard is easy to grow and adaptable.ย It grows best in well tilled, fertile soil. It has a long tap root and can endure hot, dry days if you mulch it well to retain soil moisture.
Chard can withstand light frost and is considered a cool weather crop. It will bolt if it gets exposed to a series of severe weather days followed by very hot days, so wait until spring is well underway before you plant.
Swiss Chard is harvested by taking the outside leaves and allowing the plant to continue growing.ย It sends up new leaves from the crown and will continue growing until snowfall.ย It can withstand frosts down to -5 C, and if you give it a row cover will recover from colder temps.ย In zone 5 to 7 chard can be grown under a clocheย or in a low tunnel during the winter months.
Chard is a mainstay in my garden, here at 2700 feet with frost expected every day during the growing season.
Rich in vitamins and so nutritious, chards are very easy to grow! Swiss Chards are probably the most under-appreciated of all vegetables. The thick stems can be cooked like asparagus. The baby leaves can be used as fresh salad greens or cooked like spinach. While the leaves are eaten, it is in the same species as the garden beet (beetroot), which is grown primarily for its edible roots.
The word Swiss is used to distinguish Swiss Chard from French spinach varieties. Popular among Mediterranean cooks, our finest varieties can be traced back to Sicily. The dark green leaves of this beet relative are a very good source of beta carotene and vitamin C and a good plant source of iron and calcium. (Family: Spinach, Chenopodiaceae).
Varieties to plantย
Growing Swiss Chard has become so popular that seed can be purchased at any local or online seed store. When purchasing seed, get the larger package as the seed will keep for up to 3 years if kept in a cool, dry place.
As you get into year 4, check germination before you discard the unused seed.ย I usually plant 3 or 4 varieties every Spring.ย The open pollinated seed grows just as well as hybrid seed and will be cheaper to buy
Fordhook Giant was introduced in 1934 and gives you the most vigorous growth with succulent white stems and huge leaves, in fertile soil. This is the choice for wraps and cabbage rolls.
Rhubarb Red chard has deep crimson stalks and leaf veins contrasting beautifully with dark green heavily crumpled leaves.
Canary Yellow Swiss chard seeds bring cheerful color to spring and winter gardens. The young stalks are a deep orange color while the larger, more mature stalks turn a bright yellow to contrast beautifully with dark green glossy leaves.
Flamingo Pink are my other favorites for their bright stem color and smaller, colorful leaves.
Rainbow chard is a combination of red, yellow and green swiss chard varieties. It is beautiful growing in the garden.
Peppermint chard has magenta to pink ombreย ย petioles with dark, glossy green leaves.ย It works well as a baby green or as a full grown garden plant.ย The leaves are large when full grown and useful for “chard rolls” or dalmas.ย (Grab my recipe here.)
Planting Chard in Containers
Chard can be grown in containers for urban gardening in tight spaces and makes a lovely garden plant among the flowers in a front garden, too, with its colorful stems.ย It needs minimal care since the plant is fairly resilient and prefers a shady location.
Since chard is harvested throughout the growing season by taking the larger outside leaves, you can ignore the “days to maturity.” The baby leaves of early chard make a great salad addition.
It can also be grown in a pot indoors during the colder months for a constant supply of nutritious greens, provided the pot has a depth of 5 inches or more to compensate for the deep tap roots.ย Chard also makes a quick growing microgreens.
Growing Swiss Chard
To grow swiss chard, plant it in prepared ground 1/2 inch deep about 8 inches apart, and in rows about 18 inches apart.ย Closer spacing will not give you more leaves, as the plants produce fewer leaves when crowded.ย Direct sowing is preferable to transplanting because thereย is less root disturbance.
The seed looks like beet seed and like beet seed has several seeds in each “seed”, so you may get quite a more than one plant coming up in each spot. The extra plants can be thinned for salad greens or carefully pulled up and replanted in another bed. You can also increase the baby leaves by planting it closer together.
Swiss chard is hardy to zone 2 and can handle the frost.ย Plant it in full sun anytime after mid-April, when the ground can be worked, about two weeks after you would plant peas in your area. It will grow all season from one planting and you can harvest the large outer leaves and the plant will keep growing all season.
Spinach has a really short season and will bolt as soon as warm weather comes. Swiss chard makes better use of the ground, so you have to work less for an abundant harvest. Add some compost tea twice during the growing season, about a month apart and you will get an abundant harvest from a small patch of chard.
Animals love it, too.ย Feed it to rabbits, goats, sheep, and llamas to extend your forage.
To rejuvenate the plant, you can trim the plant down to leaves 2 inches above crowns. This can be done at any time during the growing season and new, succulent leaves soon will beย ready to harvest.
Cooking with Chard
Chard comes in a variety of stem colors from white, red, golden-yellow, orange and green.ย The stems can be served like asparagus, chopped for soup or stews, and added for color to salads.ย ย The largest outer leaves make great wraps for cabbage rolls, veggie rolls, and in a low carb diet, they make a good substitute for tortillas in wraps.
You can also cook them like spinach and serve them in place of spinach in dishes like lasagna and spanakopita.ย Baby leaves make colorful and mild tasting salad greens
When using it, don’t pick it and let it sit in your fridge for weeks before you eat it.ย The taste becomes bitter and it loses quality and vitamins. Instead, treat it like corn and cook it the day you pick it and you will be rewarded with a sweet, buttery flavor and succulent texture.
Preserving Chard for the Winter
To preserve the swiss chard harvest for winter use, it is best to dry it in your dehydrator or freeze it. Canned Swiss chard gets quite mushy, so avoid canning.ย It should be blanched for one minute before freezing or drying to stop any enzymes within the leaves from degrading the quality of the leaves.ย Blanched chard has a deeper green, so you’ll know it’s done.
Dried or frozen chard can be added to winter soups, stews, and pasta or rice dishes with ease. During the growing season, only pick what you can easily preserve that day, and you will have delicious leafy green vegetables all winter.
How to Cook Swiss Chardย
Fresh Swiss chard can be mildly bitter, but that bitterness fades with cooking. Once cooked Swiss chard has a taste that resembles cooked spinach. For the best flavor, take mature leaves and stalks and sautรฉ them in a skillet.
This bright sautรฉed chard dish is quick to make.ย You can have it ready in 15 minutes including the time it takes to step out to the garden and bring in a basket of delicious and nutritious Swiss Chard.
Ingredients
Scale
10 Stems of Swiss chard
1 organic lemon
5 stems of green onions
handful of chives
oregano sprigs
sunflower seeds
coconut oil
Instructions
Wash the organic lemon, grate the zest and reserve.
Squeeze the juice and reserve.
Wash 10 stems of chard, and chop into 1/2 inch pieces.
Briefly sautรฉ green onions, chives and fresh oregano leaves in 1/2 tsp. coconut oil, until just wilted.
Stir in sunflower seeds and lightly toast.
Add lemon zest.
Add prepared chard and sautรฉ until just wilted.
Pour lemon juice over chard and continue stirring until just warm.
Notes
Lemon juice makes some of the nutrients in leafy greens more bioavailable to the body.ย Include lemon juice, lime juice, or white balsamic vinegar anytime you cook garden fresh leafy greens.
Recipe Card powered by
This simple sautรฉed Swiss chardย recipe is a family favorite that comes together quickly.
Ingredients:
10 Stems of Swiss chard
1 organic lemon
5 stems of green onions
handful of chives
oregano sprigs
sunflower seeds
coconut oil
Directions:ย
Wash the organic lemon, grate the zest and reserve.
Squeeze the juice and reserve.
Wash 10 stems of chard, and chop into 1/2 inch pieces.
Briefly sautรฉย green onions, chives and fresh oregano leaves in 1/2 tsp. coconut oil, until just wilted.
Stir in sunflower seeds and lightly toast.
Add lemon zest.
Add prepared chard and sautรฉ until just wilted.
Pour lemon juice over chard and continue stirring until just warm.
Serve sautรฉed swiss chard warm as a vegetable or add cubes of fresh goat cheese and serve as a main dish.
Interested in cool weather gardening? Try these other articles from Joybilee Farm.
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