How to Grow Chard

An easy vegetable that is grown all too infrequently is chard, or Swiss chard. It is actually a relative of the beet. But rather than forming a round edible root, it produces nourishing leaves over a long season and can be used much like spinach, but without the earthy flavor. Stems are more like celery and can be cooked. Young leaves can be used in salads.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. 
    
   Yellow chard

   First, you need to decide which variety to grow as chard comes in a rainbow of colors. I like the flavor of the plain green, but most people prefer one of the colors.

2. Grow chard from small plants in 6-packs or from seed. Plant them about 18"-24" apart so they have room to grow. They grow quickly and produce edible sized leaves faster than most other vegetables. They also can keep producing all winter if the ground does not freeze. Being biennials, they will start to send up lanky shoots with insignificant flowers after about a year and the new leaves will become too small to be useful. This is the time to replace the plants.

3. 
    
   Red chard

   Give chard a good, rich soil with lots of compost rather than manure. Grow it in full sun. And make sure the soil doesn't dry out for more than an inch from the surface. Chard grows easily with other vegetables and has the same demands as most other plants in the vegetable garden.

4. The only pest I've had with my chard are gophers. They like the thick roots. Chard is also susceptible to root nematodes, though these usually will not do too much damage to the plant's productivity.

5. 
    
   Hot pink chard

   Happy plants may even reseed if you let those rather unattractive flower stalks remain long enough to drop their tiny seeds.

6. 
    
   Orange chard

   This vegetable is so colorful it can be grown in the flower garden. I like to grow it as a border around the vegetable patch to make the edible garden look decorative.

Resources

• Gates & Croft Horticultural Design Info & Ideas
• Root Knot Nematodes

[sunshine11219]

on 12/1/2008 great step by step and awesome pics