About growing swiss chard

[Jenise]

I grew swiss chard this year for the first time, and quite successfully. The leaves, however, are quite a bit thinner/more fragile and the stalks more delicate than what I buy in the stores. And that thought occurred to me, as I was out in the garden just now assessing if I had enough for dinner tonight, at about the same moment I thought about it's similarity, as plants go, to rhubarb.

Now I had thought this was an annual, not a perennial, but that's ignorance talking. Is it, at least in climates friendly enough, an annual? The thicker, more substantial leaves of commercially grown chard could be explained if they came from more mature plants.

In Santa Barbara, Chard survives the winter.

The thickness of the leaf depends on the variety. Just like there are different varieties of beets and spinach.

It will survive the winter in Tulsa also, but will bolt the following summer typically.

[Jenise]

It will survive the winter in Tulsa also, but will bolt the following summer typically.

Cool! Then I'll leave them in and see what happens.

It will survive the winter in Tulsa also, but will bolt the following summer typically.

Cool! Then I'll leave them in and see what happens.

I doubt you'll get very good results up there, Jenise. But, my chard was a little different from yours. Came in about four feet tall and looks like it could eat the lower part of Washington state. Fairly robust in other words.

[Jenise]

I doubt you'll get very good results up there, Jenise.

Oh, I do too. But since I don't need to reuse the space, no harm in leaving it go as long as it's producing. But...four feet tall? Wow. But doesn't everything grow better in the Willamette Valley? I'll bet you're a couple inches taller than you were in Memphis, too.

I always thought annual as well till this year. As I was preparing the bed for planting asparagus this spring I unearthed very large fleshy chard roots that had
already started to send up new leaves. I would have left them in to see how they fared but didn't want competition for the asparagus roots.
I have 3 varieties of chard this year - the old standard "French", a beautiful red and yellow. The yellow are the most delicate, thin veins and leaf The red is actually much
more fibrous. The red seem to have a more mineral ? iron taste. Other than that, not sure I can distinguish differences in flavor. The colors however add a lot
to a dish.
Chard is one of the more foolproof crops for me.

[Jenise]

I always thought annual as well till this year. As I was preparing the bed for planting asparagus this spring I unearthed very large fleshy chard roots that had
already started to send up new leaves. I would have left them in to see how they fared but didn't want competition for the asparagus roots.
I have 3 varieties of chard this year - the old standard "French", a beautiful red and yellow. The yellow are the most delicate, thin veins and leaf The red is actually much
more fibrous. The red seem to have a more mineral ? iron taste. Other than that, not sure I can distinguish differences in flavor. The colors however add a lot
to a dish.
Chard is one of the more foolproof crops for me.

Interesting! I'll have to let you know next spring what I ended up with--probably what Robert said. A pretty new plant that bolts. Isn't the yellow chard beautiful? Wish I could buy single bunches of just that color. Here it's mostly the rainbow group, which in part is why I decided to grow my own. I love the white best because I think the leaves have a stronger, sharper flavor. I also think it's more attractive cooked--I love to mix it with chunks of boiled potato and folded into a bechamel. White looks better in that prep--the red just looks dirty, and it stains the sauce.

In northern CA my nursery says that you can keep cutting the leaves for more than one year. I always have trouble preventing it bolting, though.

[Jenise]

I always have trouble preventing it bolting, though.

It will be impossible here. Heck, my first-season parsley just bolted.

Ten days ago I planted Swiss chard in my raised beds, small plants from a 6-pack. They are in full sun and doing well. Italian parsley is doing well. Tomorrow I am planting collard greens and plan on picking before the leaves mature.
Our weather changes around Halloween so I am praying we don't get a heat wave before the cooler temperatures set in.

Jenise, horticulturally speaking, chard is (like its close relative, beets, as well as all the cole relatives) in the category of "biennial (usually) grown as annual". The natural lifecycle of all those things - beets, chard, cabbage and so forth - covers two years; they sprout from seed one spring, grow green stuff the first season, store energy in the roots, die back somewhat during the winter (depending on climate), then flower the second spring and set seed. So if you're interested in harvesting beets, for example, you plant in the spring and harvest the roots in the fall. If you're growing for seed (as some actually do here on Whidbey), you leave the roots in the ground over the winter, looking for flowers in the spring and a seed harvest later in the year. Bottom line, chard will almost certainly survive the winter for you but it will quickly bolt next year, as others have reported.

I planted my Swiss chard winter crop about ten days ago. I got a six-pac from the nursery. They have grown nicely and I think in about one week I will have some nice leaves to pick from the six plants. I like picking my greens when small, but won't have enough if I do not combine them with other greens. Maybe beet greens!

[Jenise]

I planted my Swiss chard winter crop about ten days ago. I got a six-pac from the nursery. They have grown nicely and I think in about one week I will have some nice leaves to pick from the six plants. I like picking my greens when small, but won't have enough if I do not combine them with other greens. Maybe beet greens!

Wow, edible leaves in 16 days--impressive. When you "combine them with other greens", you're cooking them or using them in salad? Have to admit, until I moved up here I'd never had chard in salads but now I add it myself all the time.

As I said, I bought the plants in a 6-pack, they were already on their way with third and fourth leaves. We have had perfect weather for them, nice warm days and cooler nights and mornings. I gave them a shot of veggie fertilizer the day I planted. Gene put in an overhead mister system. I looked at them again today and they are ready to pick. I am going to try and stick to tender young leaves with all my greens this year. I hate cutting those thick stems out of the leaves and tossing them, but they take too long to cook especially if you add them to the leaves to cook at the same time. I'm not liking tedious cooking and multiple steps anymore. I've found that shortcuts work with most things except risotto. Now that is a dish you must stir, add broth and stir and then do it all over again. The results are worth it.

Do you every go to finedinnigs.com - Peggy Bucholz's site? That lady is an excellent cook (we have been to her dinners) and she has perfected simplicity into her menus...her flavors are fresh and presentations stunning.

Back to the chard-----
this time I am combining them with beet greens and lacinato kale....because I have them and they all need to be used. I have not tried swiss chard in salads, but if I pick them young enough, they should be great.