Rhubarb Red Swiss Chard.
A Fordhook Giant Swiss Chard plant.
In some ways describing Swiss Chard is like describing the perfect wife: Good for you, reliable, easy on the eyes and low maintenance.
A good wife, the Bible tells us, is a precious treasure. Swiss Chard, on the other hand, is arguably the most under rated green in the garden.
While most greens, including lettuces, collards, kale and cabbages, to name a few, tend to bolt or fade as soon as the hot Texas summers arrives, chard keeps right on going until the very hottest part of the summer, and even then it usually doesn’t die, it just dies back a bit and then returns as good as ever in the fall. I have some plants that are a few years old, they keep coming back with new leaves each year and they are always eye catching.
Those leaves are not only beautiful (see photos), they are also one of the most nutritious you can eat. According to the USDA chard is high in Vitamin C, carotenoids, potassium, iron, fiber and calcium. It can be eaten raw or used in a variety of cooked dishes, or used as a braising green.
This versatile plant is easy to grow, tolerates a wide range of soils as well as heat and cold and doesn’t have a lot of pests.
I planted mine from seed buried about a half inch deep in rows, with eight inches between each plant. I keep them moist until the plants are established and mulch around each plant with straw. Once the plants have formed true leaves I feed with a diluted sea kelp mixture and feed every month after that, more frequently if I’m growing chard in a pot — and it fares well there too.
Chard takes about 55 days to produce decent sized leaves but you can eat them at any size. And there’s no need to harvest the whole plant. Just cut a few outer leaves off at the soil line and it will keep producing. And producing.
Like I said, it is maybe the most under rated green in the garden.
