David Hare-Scott wrote:
songbird wrote:

did the Swiss invent it or did they just get
lucky and grab the name first?


WikiP says its Mediterranean and "Swiss" is to distinguish from French.
Does anybody have "French chard"?

i've never heard of it.


we'll see how it goes here, i planted three
areas today with the Burpee Neon Mix. two outside
the fenced garden and a backup patch inside the
fenced garden.

the package says "average soil" which around
here the average would be hard as a rock right
now and mostly clay. i don't think they mean
that! however, two patches are in the
lighter soil space i have and the backup patch
is also amended lighter soil too. so i don't
think i've erred, until the bunnies find them
delicious.


It's pretty hardy and flexible, not fussy really. It will self-seed and
grow in all sorts of places.

oh good.


Ma asked me what it was like and i said,
"Yummy, like beets, but greener!" this mix
is four colors, so i will be curious as to how
they do here. i've always loved it, always
wanted to grow some, but until now we've not
had the space in the fenced garden for a plant
like this, but now it's in. i'm looking
forwards to learning yet another thing this
year.


You will be faced with one of life's turning points. To eat the stalks or
not. If you choose yes then cook the stalks separately from the leaves
otherwise the one will be underdone and the other overdone. The key is to
pick them while the leaves are tender and not too strong in flavour. The
leaves can be allowed to grow to full size (or nearly) but regular cutting
keeps them producing.

i like rhubarb stalks cooked or raw once
in a while. when i was eating chard before
i would eat the whole leaf usually raw as
a wrap or chop it up and throw it in a stir
fry of some sort. i like veggies on the
crunchy side even when cooked, so a little
hard stalk isn't going to bother me. i've
also had it cooked in a pastry and that was
good too. i'm not really fussy either as
long as you don't put black pepper on it...


i think they will be a good refuge type plant
for the good bugs.


And snails and slugs

that would have to cross several feet of
bare, dry dirt right now to get to where
they are at. don't see too many snails
around here. i think the birds get them.


should be in the full sun or close to it.
shaded a little right now by flowers and some
trefoil, but i can trim that back if it looks
to be taking over.


If they get at least some sun they will grow but they are best in full sun.

they'll have 6-9hrs of sun at least on
the days when the sun is out. i put them to
the north and to the west and in the center
so we'll see what they do for shading surrounding
plants and sun blocking, and also how they do
growing with some companion legumes.


let grow untouched first year and harvest
next year?

No. Harvest according to the vigour of the plant. Cut from the outside and
always leave a few healthy leaves in the centre to carry on. Once they are
going well you may be able to cut quite frequently and still have them
prosper.

ah good.


harvest a little this year after
they get a few big leaves?

Harvest as soon as they have enough leaves.

check.


are these biannual
like beets?

Yes. They ARE beets!

but no round root to eat?


says the seeds want even moisture
for sprouting, that might be a challenge in
sandier soil.

You can start them in trays, they transplant quite well.

too late for that. i've never had any
trouble starting beets here so i figure i
just need to remember to give them a shot
of water if we've not had any rain.
pretty much what i would do for any of
the seeded in gardens.


how hardy are they when it gets hot
and dry?

They will do better than many leafy veges like lettuce but try to keep them
watered or they will wilt in the afternoon.

that's good to know. all of the patches i
planted have an underlaying clay that will hold
water if the roots can get down that far. one
is along an edge that is low that it is usually
damp even when it gets dry for quite some time.


do they get deep tap roots?

Yes

flower
second season?

Yes. When the flower stalk comes up you can cut all the baby leaves along
its sides which will be very tender and mild

that will be fun to see. much more fun than
rhubarb stalks.


spread by root division?

No only seed.

great, thanks for your answers.

anything else i should know about them?

is it likely that a mix like this will
even and average out in color as it self-and-
cross pollinates? sometimes this happens
with flowers (like the cosmos if i don't
select seeds by color and petal count and
height they'll all go mostly orange).


songbird