[NormandyMary]

Hi all.

After seeing it cooked on a James Martin programme, I bought and tonight ate some Swiss Chard. Has anyone ever grown it, and if so is it easy to do?
Thanks.

Mary.

[sunshineband]

Yep, it's dead simple. I grew some last year in a large plastic crate in the garden. Seeds came up with no propbs and the stems were a glorious  mix of red/orange yellow. I gave some of the thinnings to my friend over the road (dug up with a lump of soil on the end and acrried over ona trowel) and she grew them in amongst her flowers in the border. Cut and come again style crop, which was great.
Am planning a whole load more this year in the new raised beds. I gather you can put them in anyhwhere there is a space and not worry too  much about which group they belong to.
Good luck

[nobby]

sunshine is dead right very easy to grow
leafes and stems are good eating

[digalotty]

when i took on my lotty last year my neighbering plotter gave us some to try, lightly steamed with a little butter and it was delish. this year i intend to grow loads of it as indeed it is so easy.

[Elcie]

I have heard they are very easy to grow and look brilliant too.  Going to include them in my new front garden vegetable plot where I am aiming to combine looking good with being productive!

[yummy]

I grew some last year. It was dead easy. Sowed the seeds and they grew - that was it  We were cutting it once a week and it kept growing back for months. We have some that has self seeded from an old plant too.

[NormandyMary]

That's it then. I'll do it. I found it delicious, there was such a contrast between the leaves and the stems, it made it very interesting to eat. Ive also read its very good for you too, so its a double whammy!
Ill let you know how I get on.

Mary.

[Duracell]

My six year old grew a bunch last year and I let her plant them all by herself, they came up almost as good as mine, she was well chuffed when we all sat down to eat them! So yes I would guess quite easy, I am still trying to figure if they are goof for rabbits tho....

[RichardA]

very easy and is around when spinach is not. Any that gets a bit big we throw to teh ducks and they love it as well
R

[nicchick]

I haven't grown this yet but my mate has been growing the rainbow variety in her front garden for years. I get it fairly regularly in my veg box and am looking forward to growing it this year. I make a swiss chard tart with thyme in the pastry and fry off the stems first with some onions and garlic before piling it into the pastry case with eggs and a little cream. It's from  Allegra McEvedy's Colour Cookbook which is the best for great ideas for all sorts of veg. She puts cheese in it too but I prefer it without. Yum!

[bisgedyn]

I tried it last year but no real luck  - v slow growing both in pots and beds and got nibbled by pests - a lot! The few leaves I did have were delicious though.

[Stripey_cat]

Utterly bombproof - if you let it seed it can get invasive!  It is slow compared to spinach or lettuce, though (plant in late spring for autumn/winter harvests).

The seeds (like beetroot) are really clusters of seeds, so you either need to station sow quite widely, or be ruthless thinning!  Overgrown clumps are more vulnerable to rot and mould in wet weather (ask me about the slimey mess I need to clear from one of my beds right now, although they stood quite well until the last few weeks).

It survives cold better than dry - mine did get occasional watering over the summer - although I think cloches help if you want to get top-quality leaves over winter.