If you like pickled beets, try pickling the chard stems. Just cut them the
length of you jars, pack and pickle them. The rainbow chard is very pretty
canned this way.
Steve
"songbird" wrote in message
...
Derald wrote:
songbird wrote:

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.

Ha! Reminds me of my experience with Swiss chard. Based on what I
now know to be faulty memories of chard, I planted a red-stemmed variety
("ruby") in January just to see.... Damned things taste like beet tops;
ugh. After one meal, we literally sheared the tops, cooked and froze
them and gave them to a neighbor who eats almost anything. Composted the
roots.

i wouldn't bother if you don't like beets.
the whole idea is to get a nice beet green
that has huge leaves. make a green burrito
using one leaf. yumyum.


Unconvinced of their total unpalatability, I have my eye on a green
variety of chard that is purported to do well in FL:
http://sustainableseedco.com/Lucullus-Chard-Seeds.html. Gonna try'em
in the fall; maybe they're milder in flavor. If not, then I'll have to
move the chard to the "don't bother" list.

good luck. when it comes to matters of taste
things are quite subjective. in one of the
other groups (preserving) there is someone who
hates beets and calls them dirt chunks. to me
that is part of their appeal. they smell and
taste a lot like dirt, but sweeter and redder
and a lot less wear on the teef.


At any rate, down here, chard seems to be relatively pest free,
compared to spinach and other tender greens. The major pest was some
kind of tiny green "worm" larva that was easily controlled by Bt.
However, my garden is not a fair example because the same nematodes I
use for root knot control also significantly reduce populations of
certain flies, including leaf miners.

i'm not seeing leaf miners here much at
all.


i think they will be a good refuge type plant for the good bugs.
What does that mean?

that means a plant that is left in place when
the rest of the garden is in between plantings.
like leaving one alfalfa plant growing in the
middle of a 7x7ft garden so that the ladybugs
have a place to be until the seeds for the next
planting sprout.

as we turn more and more of the perennial
gardens into veggie gardens and with all the
crushed limestone we have in the pathways
there's not a lot of plants in some areas. if
i want to keep good bugs around i better have
some green space always available. preferably
some flowers and a water source too as that
helps keep the birds and bees around.


songbird