- Good mineral accumulators - so leaves are a valuable addition to compost;
- Do well alongside beans (not runner beans), lettuce, onions and brassica;
- Growing beetroot under brassica or beans will protect their leaves from bird damage when they are young.
Tips for Chard and Leaf Beet
First tip - as with New Zealand Spinach, I have seen Swiss Chard and Spinach Beet referred to (with a wonderful lack of consistency) as Perpetual Spinach. However, these are not spinach!
I cook them in the same sort of dishes, and in the same sort of way, but they have an altogether more robust flavour, and one all of their own. For the cook, who has used a "spinach substitute" expecting a delicately balanced spinach dish, the meal may well be a disappointment. However, diners without such subtle expectations, should enjoy a delightful vegetable meal
- Sow a couple of rows of Chard (Rainbow or Rhubarb Chard for colour, Swiss Chard for flavour) or Spinach Beet. Shallow drills, 15 inches apart, in any reasonably rich soil, is all they need. Sow them thinly and cover over.
- Thin the seedlings out to single plants about 12 inches apart, and watch them grow!
- They will need watering during dry spells, but are almost entirely trouble free.
- When the outer leaves are large enough to use, pick them carefully and regularly. Don't let them get too big or tough to use, and leave the central newest leaves to develop.
- It really is as easy as that - and you could be picking through autumn and into early winter.
- So far, my chard has survived our winters. For such a brave display, it seems a little callous to cut their head off in February - but they've given us a good flush of new, fresh, tender growth in late February and March. Very welcome when the winter brassicas are beginning to lose their attraction!
- I've read that you can sow in summer, for fresh new harvest in spring; this hasn't worked for me (yet!) - the seedlings have not survived summer heat. I'll try September next year.
Using Chard and Leaf Beet
- Wash them lightly in cold water, cut out the central rib, and chop finely. Pop the leaves into a pan,and allow them to steam for less than 10 minutes - like spinach. Melted butter, and a grating of pepper or nutmeg - and they're done.
- The ribs can also be steamed if they are young and tender - very quickly or they lose colour. Or eaten raw - look like celery, taste of beetroot!
Varieties I've tried.
Variety
About
Results
Swiss Chard
Ready Aug-Nov
As a change from Rainbow Chard; said to have better flavour.
Rainbow Chard (Bright Lights)
Aug-Nov and Spring
Always reliable.
Growing Calendar - Chard and Leaf Beet
Timings are based on my allotment in Yorkshire; southerners will start earlier, northerners even later!
