Any type of loam will do so long as you till it well and deeply, and work in ample organic compost or well-rotted manure.

We all go crazy over spinach and kale, but when was the last time you cooked Swiss chard? This vibrant leafy green is one of my favorite vegetables to work with. It’s endlessly versatile – my go-to Swiss chard recipes range from smoky Mojo bowls to a lemony pasta – and its stems are just as edible as its dark green leaves. Because I think we could all be cooking it more often, I wanted to share a little Swiss chard 101 today. If you’ve never worked with chard before, I hope these tips and recipes will encourage you to try it. And if you’re already a Swiss chard pro, I hope a recipe here will inspire you to prepare it in a new way. There’s no limit to what Swiss chard can do! Lucullus’ is an heirloom variety that is well known to be prolific. Its strengths are heavily skewed towards taste rather than ornamentation. The yellowish-green leaves are as tasty as any green vegetable. The petioles are ‘merely’ white but they too are tasty and juicy, and make a very good asparagus substitute. It does not tolerate overly-wet soil. Each year you’ll inevitably run out of garden space and have a certain amount of seeds left over after planting. Don’t throw them out just yet! Depending on the type of seed and its quality, you may be able to store them and use them next year or the year after. In fact, some seeds, if properly stored, can be viable even after ten years. Some varieties of tomato seeds have even been known to germinate after as long as 16 years! Tips for Storing Seeds Swiss Chard Seeds - Peppermint The multifunctional vegetable that will create a mouth-watering display It can also be sown under cover in the autumn to crop the following year. 1) Harvesting Chard SeedsLet’s say you have some seeds that are a couple of years old. At this point, you really can’t be certain if they are going to germinate, even if they’ve been stored under optimum conditions in a dry, cool place. Swiss chard seeds can be direct sown any time after the last frost date, and the seeds will germinate once the soil temperature has reached 50°. For earlier harvests, Swiss chard may be started indoors three to four weeks before the last frost date. Sow seeds in sterile seed-starting mix, with two seeds per cell. The seeds can sprout in as few as five days if the soil temperature is between 50° and 85°. One week after the seeds were sown, thin seedlings to one per cell. Young leaves can be used raw in salads, while larger leaves can be steamed like spinach or added to stir-fries. The stems and mid-ribs need to be cooked for slightly longer, so are best removed and cooked first. Water the soil after sowing so that it becomes damp. Keep watering regularly but in moderation so that the soil stays moist to damp. Sow thinly direct into finely raked, moist, warm soil at a depth of 13mm (½") in rows 30cm (12") apart. Germination 7-14 days. Thin as required to leave 23-30cm (9-12") between plants. Grows best in good soil which has not recently been manured. Water well during periods of dry weather to prevent bolting (going to seed). Sowing Information

Swiss chard seeds can be collected and stored from plants in their second year of growth, to save until spring to sow. Once the first hard frost arrives, you can harvest the entire plant, or bring your pot indoors to overwinter. Get more tips on harvesting here. How to Grow Microgreens As the new plants mature, continue to keep the soil moist and a layer of mulch can be added around the plants to help conserve moisture and suppress weeds.Swiss chard is a leafy green vegetable that’s renowned for its nutritional value, and it’s popular with gardeners because it is so easy to grow. It is a cut-and-come-again crop that produces for quite some time and is cold hardy too. If you want to grow Swiss chard in your garden, here’s everything you need to know. Leafminers are fly larvae that tunnel through leaf tissue. The damage is unsightly but will not be fatal to the plant. When you find leaves with leafminer damage, remove and dispose of them. As with aphids, floating row cover is a good preventative tool for leafminers because it prevents adults from laying their eggs on plants in the first place.

You can eat the leaves when young, raw, in salads, or cook the stems and leaves as they mature. Larger stems and leaves are very versatile, and go particularly well in pasta dishes, pizza, omelettes and curries. Can I grow chard in containers? To collect the seeds, allow the seed stalks to dry and wait until the seeds are completely brown before harvesting and storing in a cool, dark and dry environment. 2) Fill Shallow Pots Indoors, the care requirements are the same, though you’ll be entirely in charge of making sure your Swiss chard gets enough water. No help from the rain here. If you live in the frigid zones of the north and you want to be sure of protecting your Chard plants, besides mulching them, consider building a low tunnel over them. Growing Chard In PotsAdd it to a soup. Use chard in my brothy Cannellini Beans and Greens or this Sustenance Sweet Potato Soup. You could also sub it in for the kale in my Many-Veggie Soup or Instant Pot Lentil Soup. You want to use about an ounce of seeds for every 10 inch by five inch tray. Your tray only needs to be about an inch or two deep, so don’t worry about wasting a bunch of soil in a deep container. Swiss chard performs best in full sun but will also tolerate a little shade. The soil should be well drained and amended with plenty of organic matter, namely compost. Further amend the soil with a slow-release organic nitrogen fertilizer, such as blood meal , feather meal or cottonseed meal . The nitrogen will provoke vigorous growth of tender leaves.

You might have to prune away any heavily infested or web-covered leaves. Then, spray plants with water in the same way you would do for aphids. You can place netting over your containers in the spring and early summer when the pests emerge and start to feed, or you can keep your plants indoors. If you’re growing in the fall and winter, you don’t need to worry about this particular problem. Sow thinly direct into finely raked, moist, warm soil at a depth of 13mm (½") in rows 30cm (12") apart. Germination 7-14 days. Thin as required to leave 23-30cm (9-12") between plants. The seeds can also be sown in modules, with young plants then transplanted to their final location. Lyon is renowned for its taste. The leaves are lime-green on white stalks. The leaves grow more than a foot long and near 10 inches wide. It is an open-pollinated variety that is ready to harvest in 50 days.

Caring and nurturing your chard

Young Chard leaves are genuinely tasty eaten fresh and raw and they make succulent additions to salads. Swiss chard is also a popular fall crop. If growing Swiss chard seeds in the fall, start them about ten weeks before the average first autumn frost date. You can sow them directly in the soil or start them indoors and transplant them out when they are at least four weeks old. How to Plant Swiss Chard Seeds Next, cook the stems. Heat a little olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chard stems and cook for about 2 minutes, or until they start to soften. Then, add the leaves, some sliced garlic, salt, and pepper, and cook until the leaves wilt, about another 2 minutes. Water regularly during hot spells, so that the plants do not flower and set seed. At some point, regardless of your efforts, chard will do this - you can leave the seedheads to spread and germinate at random for next year, or collect them for drying and sowing in another location.