"songbird" wrote in message
the package says "average soil"
I find that being a green (I plant the green ones rather than the rainbow
ones) silver beet ('chard' to you) goes best in rich soil, but then I am a
huge fan of silver beet (chard) and use it copiously.
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 mean you haven't planted it before? How did you survive without it?
i think they will be a good refuge type plant
for the good bugs.
Who cares about the bugs when it's one of those great plants for humans -
bugs aren't particulalrly welcome round it if they are going to compete with
me for the leaves.
let grow untouched first year and harvest
next year?
Nope. As soon as the leaves are big enough and there are enough of them,
then pick some. It's a cut and come again plant but pick the leaves from
the outside. Really tiny leaves are superb in salads. Huge leaves are
loved by the chooks or any sort of livestock round here.
As David mentioned, there is that conundrum about eating the stems and/or
the leaves. The stems are nice with white sauce to which cheese has been
added. Steamed leaves are great in Greek Cheese triangles made with philo
pastry and of course there is always Spanakopita (sp??).
And as for the people who say that they must first fry bacon, I'm wondering
how on earth they are eating it. The only time I add bacon is if I am using
the tiny leaves in a salad and then those leaves are only a minor part of
the salad and I only use a tiny amount of really crispy bacon bits to give a
bit more crunch to the salad.
You will find some recipe ideas for it here, but being an aussie site you'll
need to use using the term 'silver beet' - I got 34 recipe hits but they
don't have either the Greek cheese triangles or the salad I use it in. It
goes great with cheesey additions:
http://www.taste.com.au/