Swiss chard (ONE MEAN CRITTER)

Worth1 · March 10, 2006

I planted Swiss chard around my summer squash last year at this time and I picked about 4 pounds of the stuff this morning for my wife to take to work.

The squash, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, okra and cucumbers are long gone.
The stuff was totally neglected through 110 degree weather and no rain to speak of, but it has hung on and starting to produce again.

I thought it would have bolted by now.

I like to use Swiss chard as a substitute for lettuce on a BLT.

Maybe I can get Swiss chard started as a wild weed here in Texas as a replacement for some of the other worthless weeds we have here.

Hats off to Swiss chard!!!!!

Worth

Worth1 · March 10, 2006

Well that wasn’t the way the heading was supposed to come out.
Now I feel like a fool.

**nctomatoman** · March 10, 2006

You can edit any of your posts, Worth - just click the edit button when you reopen if you want to try something different!

Getting fancy with us, hey!

Althea · March 10, 2006

Worth, your title sure piqued my curiousity :~)

Congrats on your bumper crop of swiss chard! Good luch with your future naturalizing experiment.

landarc · March 10, 2006

The amazing thing about that stuff, in Humboldt, about as far from Texas as you can get, my brother planted chard about four years ago and it pumps out leaves all year. It is like a weed, theonly things growing in his yard.

He added rainbow chard a couple of years ago, I guess because you can never have enough chard, or something like that

**coronabarb** · March 10, 2006

I grow Ruby Chard (it has red stems) and this stuff stays alive all through summer with little, if any, water. Of course, it tastes a lot better if watered. :wink:

I cut up chard and cook it in all kinds of casseroles, stews, soups...the kids don't even know it's there. I just say the green stuff is chives or parsley or whatever. It is very good for you too.

I wouldn't be without it.

Worth1 · March 10, 2006

Well now, that's better!!!

I told yall these puters bumfuzziled me.

Earl · March 11, 2006

Chard is great. Can be used in any recipe that calls for spinach. I've even pickled the stems, using Dilly Bean recipe.

**nctomatoman** · April 2, 2007

Best chard recipe I've tried is a Chard Tart - the crust is an olive oil and water dough (very flaky), and the filling has onions, chard, eggs and lots of Parmesan Cheese. Great stuff! I just transplanted my Rainbow Chard babies into the garden this weekend (along with a variety of lettuces) - can't wait!

tjg911 · April 2, 2007

Swiss chard is a must have for me. It'll thrive in the heat of summer, not Texas but it's plenty hot and humid here, and it'll tolerate frost in the fall and freezes to 15 above zero and still be ok. I seed it around 5/10 either waiting for warmer soil or it doesn't tolerate frost when emerging, I forget which. I have grown it into late November (even picking it as late as early December when the ground was frozen) but it's pretty much just holding at that time of the year - even grass stops growing about 11/10 due to the lack of sun. I wouldn't use it as a lettuce substitute tho the very small tender leaves are ok for that. It's more of a spinach substitute, spinach will not tolerate hot weater and bolts fast. I like to steam or saute it and mix it with almost anything you'd cook. Great stuff I love it.
.
Oh I found that Ruby Red does not tolerate frost it dies so I stopped growing that chard. My favorite is Argentata.
.
Tom

montanamato · April 2, 2007

I love chard...My only early gardening memories are of my grandmother (from Turin, Italy) picking chard in her Montana garden...It was much later that I discovered how great it is....Tough in all conditions and even the grasshoppers aren't too bad on it...I have grown all colors, but prefer the huge green Italian types that grow lots of thick stem...Use it small in mixed salad and the large leaves get stuffed and poached in broth...I also sneak it in many things, and my children have no idea...

Jeanne

tessa · April 5, 2007

i credit swiss chard for my gardening interests now. in my first ever garden, in my first ever own (rented) home...i planted a small veggie patch. absolutely everything failed. everything, that is...except for the chard. it got to be winter, in toronto, a foot of snow...and i was still out in the backyard in snow boots with a pair of scissors...collecting greens for dinner.
it was unstoppable.
the cockroach of the plant world.
i love swiss chard.

strmywthr3 · April 5, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by nctomatoman

Best chard recipe I've tried is a Chard Tart - the crust is an olive oil and water dough (very flaky), and the filling has onions, chard, eggs and lots of Parmesan Cheese. Great stuff! I just transplanted my Rainbow Chard babies into the garden this weekend (along with a variety of lettuces) - can't wait!

Craig, can you post the recipe? it sounds yummy and I'm going to grow swiss chard this year.
thanks!

Trudi · April 5, 2007

If you allow swiss chard to winter over and flower you will find that it makes the most heavenly scented flowers you've ever sensed. They are incredibly heady, their scent wafts across the garden and blows your mind...you want to go grab your partner...the scent is that intense. To balance yins and yangs Mother Nature has also made chard flowers among the most butt-ugly flowers in the garden. Chard looks like a nasty, horrid weed when in bloom. The flowers will attract a LOT of bees, so if you must, cultivate under the plants with a very long hoe.

gardenmaniac · April 6, 2007

Okay, Worth, I am interested. I have similar HOT humid summers as you here in Tallahassee. So, how come I can't grow the stuff? Around here, everybody transplants it in November and grows it through the winter. Then they become skeletonized by an unknown critter in the spring and never return. Perhaps I need to grow them through the summer months instead. I have plenty of seeds, I think I may try my luck once again at the "wrong" time of year. This is not the first time I have found loopholes in our local planting strategies. Like planting English peas in September... I just can't believe everybody finds it so easy to grow. Perhaps it's the varieties I have been trying.

Tiffanie

March 10, 2006	#1
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	Swiss chard (ONE MEAN CRITTER) I planted Swiss chard around my summer squash last year at this time and I picked about 4 pounds of the stuff this morning for my wife to take to work. The squash, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, okra and cucumbers are long gone. The stuff was totally neglected through 110 degree weather and no rain to speak of, but it has hung on and starting to produce again. I thought it would have bolted by now. I like to use Swiss chard as a substitute for lettuce on a BLT. Maybe I can get Swiss chard started as a wild weed here in Texas as a replacement for some of the other worthless weeds we have here. Hats off to Swiss chard!!!!! Worth

March 10, 2006	#3
nctomatoman Tomatoville® Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Hendersonville, NC zone 7 Posts: 10,385	You can edit any of your posts, Worth - just click the edit button when you reopen if you want to try something different! Getting fancy with us, hey! __________________ Craig

March 10, 2006	#4
Althea Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: z4MN Posts: 261	Worth, your title sure piqued my curiousity :~) Congrats on your bumper crop of swiss chard! Good luch with your future naturalizing experiment. __________________ Solanaceae Hugger

March 10, 2006	#5
landarc Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Left Coasty Posts: 964	The amazing thing about that stuff, in Humboldt, about as far from Texas as you can get, my brother planted chard about four years ago and it pumps out leaves all year. It is like a weed, theonly things growing in his yard. He added rainbow chard a couple of years ago, I guess because you can never have enough chard, or something like that __________________ Lets see...$10 for Worth and $5 for Fusion, man. Tomatoes are expensive! Bob

March 10, 2006	#6
coronabarb Tomatoville® Recipe Keeper Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Roseburg, Oregon - zone 7 Posts: 2,821	I grow Ruby Chard (it has red stems) and this stuff stays alive all through summer with little, if any, water. Of course, it tastes a lot better if watered. :wink: I cut up chard and cook it in all kinds of casseroles, stews, soups...the kids don't even know it's there. I just say the green stuff is chives or parsley or whatever. It is very good for you too. I wouldn't be without it. __________________ Corona~Barb Now an Oregon gal

March 10, 2006	#7
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	Well now, that's better!!! I told yall these puters bumfuzziled me.

March 11, 2006	#8
Earl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: SW Ohio Posts: 1,278	Chard is great. Can be used in any recipe that calls for spinach. I've even pickled the stems, using Dilly Bean recipe.

April 2, 2007	#9
nctomatoman Tomatoville® Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Hendersonville, NC zone 7 Posts: 10,385	Best chard recipe I've tried is a Chard Tart - the crust is an olive oil and water dough (very flaky), and the filling has onions, chard, eggs and lots of Parmesan Cheese. Great stuff! I just transplanted my Rainbow Chard babies into the garden this weekend (along with a variety of lettuces) - can't wait! __________________ Craig

April 2, 2007	#10
tjg911 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: zone 5b northwest connecticut Posts: 2,570	Swiss chard is a must have for me. It'll thrive in the heat of summer, not Texas but it's plenty hot and humid here, and it'll tolerate frost in the fall and freezes to 15 above zero and still be ok. I seed it around 5/10 either waiting for warmer soil or it doesn't tolerate frost when emerging, I forget which. I have grown it into late November (even picking it as late as early December when the ground was frozen) but it's pretty much just holding at that time of the year - even grass stops growing about 11/10 due to the lack of sun. I wouldn't use it as a lettuce substitute tho the very small tender leaves are ok for that. It's more of a spinach substitute, spinach will not tolerate hot weater and bolts fast. I like to steam or saute it and mix it with almost anything you'd cook. Great stuff I love it. . Oh I found that Ruby Red does not tolerate frost it dies so I stopped growing that chard. My favorite is Argentata. . Tom

April 2, 2007	#11
montanamato Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Montana Posts: 1,038	I love chard...My only early gardening memories are of my grandmother (from Turin, Italy) picking chard in her Montana garden...It was much later that I discovered how great it is....Tough in all conditions and even the grasshoppers aren't too bad on it...I have grown all colors, but prefer the huge green Italian types that grow lots of thick stem...Use it small in mixed salad and the large leaves get stuffed and poached in broth...I also sneak it in many things, and my children have no idea... Jeanne

April 5, 2007	#12
tessa Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: perth, western australia Posts: 1,031	i credit swiss chard for my gardening interests now. in my first ever garden, in my first ever own (rented) home...i planted a small veggie patch. absolutely everything failed. everything, that is...except for the chard. it got to be winter, in toronto, a foot of snow...and i was still out in the backyard in snow boots with a pair of scissors...collecting greens for dinner. it was unstoppable. the cockroach of the plant world. i love swiss chard.

April 5, 2007	#14
Trudi Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: East Meadow, Long Island Posts: 139	If you allow swiss chard to winter over and flower you will find that it makes the most heavenly scented flowers you've ever sensed. They are incredibly heady, their scent wafts across the garden and blows your mind...you want to go grab your partner...the scent is that intense. To balance yins and yangs Mother Nature has also made chard flowers among the most butt-ugly flowers in the garden. Chard looks like a nasty, horrid weed when in bloom. The flowers will attract a LOT of bees, so if you must, cultivate under the plants with a very long hoe. __________________ When Hell freezes over the Devil will Winter Sow.

April 6, 2007	#15
gardenmaniac Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: North Florida Posts: 82	Okay, Worth, I am interested. I have similar HOT humid summers as you here in Tallahassee. So, how come I can't grow the stuff? Around here, everybody transplants it in November and grows it through the winter. Then they become skeletonized by an unknown critter in the spring and never return. Perhaps I need to grow them through the summer months instead. I have plenty of seeds, I think I may try my luck once again at the "wrong" time of year. This is not the first time I have found loopholes in our local planting strategies. Like planting English peas in September... I just can't believe everybody finds it so easy to grow. Perhaps it's the varieties I have been trying. Tiffanie