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swiss chard
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 |
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