Garden Vegetable - Swiss Chard

Botanical Information

Starting

Notes:

A very easily grown plant, it succeeds in sun or light shade in moist soils but prefers a rich well-drained light neutral to alkaline soil. It does best in a pH between 6 and 6.8, though it tolerates a pH in the range 4.8 to 8.3. Plants are tolerant of saline soils and respond positively if salt is added to non-saline soils at a rate of about 1oz per square yard. Plants frequently self-sow if they are happy, sometimes too freely.
Swiss chard is sometimes cultivated by gardeners for its edible leaves and stems, it does not make a very good commercial crop since the leaves quickly droop after being harvested and therefore do not make the trip to market. The leaves are a good hot weather substitute for spinach and can be available all year round if the winters are not too severe. In severe winters it is possible to dig up some plants and move them to a protected area such as a greenhouse in order to produce fresh leaves.
A good companion for dwarf beans, onions and kohlrabi. Its growth is inhibited by runner beans and mustard.

Propagation: Seed - sow in situ in early April for the summer crop and again in early July to August for the winter and spring crop. It is also possible to obtain an earlier crop by sowing the seed in a tray in a greenhouse several weeks before last frost and planting out after all danger of frost.