[Paul Plots]

Swiss Chard - thick white stems - very easy to grow, huge strong root. Once established it copes well with spells of dry weather.

Left alone by everything (including my wife who hates it  ) but it makes a good stand by veg for those who like spinach as it is very similar.

I prefer this to the coloured stem varieties. Great with smoked haddock and poached egg.  Easily steamed then add a knob of butter.

Stems can be cooked and served as a separate dish - supposed to be a poor mans asparagus

I've found Kings Seeds provide a very reliable, long lived strain.

[Lindeggs]

I've recently discovered that the vegetable you call "chard" is the same one we call "silverbeet". 

It is one of my favourite vegetables, both for growing and eating.  I let mine go to seed and find the self-seeded ones grow back just as well as any I have planted, and supply me with new seedlings popping up all spring and summer.

They transplant very well, use little room, and can be eaten non-stop as long as you keep picking the outer leaves and leave 4 or 5 centre leaves to keep the plant growing.

For cooking I use both the leaves and the centre spine/stem.  The new young leaves get added to salads.  The bigger leaves I chop up, steam and use anywhere you would use spinach.  The stems (lots of lovely colours) I chop into 1cm lengths and use in stews, stir fries, pie fillings, etc. 

In the stews they add bulk, although as someone mentioned they don't hold their colour well.  (If you add too many red stems to a green dish it can leach the colour and make everything look a bit grey.  eeeww.)

In the stir-fries they add colour and textural interest.  They hardly need to be cooked, so they retain their lovely crisp texture.

For storage I cut the stem from the leaf and freeze them in individual bags.  The leaves I blanch, squeeze the water out, then freeze.  Use anywhere you might use frozen spinach eg in a feta and spinach quiche or for eggs florentine.

The stems I cut up, blanch and freeze.  Then I throw it into a soup, stew, dhal, etc. while still frozen.

ONE problem = sometimes you get that furry feeling on your teeth from eating the older leaves.  I think it's caused by oxalic acid (?).  There is a remedy but I can't remember it.    Maybe a pinch of baking soda or a tsp of vinegar in the cooking water?

[Kristen]

1 seed per cell and remove the weaker seedlings.

Typo?

its a cluster seed DD. (like beetroot) 

I don't seem to get multiple plants from mine (either Beetroot or Chard), but yeah they are nobbly cluster-seeds. No idea why mine don't seem to produce multiple plants though.

Bought the Ruby Chard from Heligan (that's all they had), and then the Bright Lights after we got home as Mrs Digger wanted "pretty".

You might want to be selective in the seedlings you keep - you'll get some red stemmed ones from the Rainbow ... so you might want to "favour" the Golden stemmed ones etc.

but I have to say that claims that you can cook the mature stems as a delicacy like asparagus would require more imaginative taste buds than wot I've got! 

Whilst I wouldn't describes it as a delicacy we stand the stems vertically in the Asparagus steamer to cook them, and they make a nice dish.  I run the stem through my fingers to strip off the leaf, and cook the leaf "today" then keep the stem for "tomorrow"

[Kristen]

P.S. I sow mine in a seed tray and prick out ... I always assumed that cluster-seeds would produce cluster-seedlings, but maybe when I prick out the clusters are no different to the forest of seedlings I get with everything else, and I've just never realised they were coming from a single seed cluster?

[arugula]

I've recently discovered that the vegetable you call "chard" is the same one we call "silverbeet". 
.....
ONE problem = sometimes you get that furry feeling on your teeth from eating the older leaves.  I think it's caused by oxalic acid (?).  There is a remedy but I can't remember it.    Maybe a pinch of baking soda or a tsp of vinegar in the cooking water?

This problem can occur with rhubarb too and the remedy is a pinch of baking soda.

[Lindeggs]

I've recently discovered that the vegetable you call "chard" is the same one we call "silverbeet". 
.....
ONE problem = sometimes you get that furry feeling on your teeth from eating the older leaves.  I think it's caused by oxalic acid (?).  There is a remedy but I can't remember it.    Maybe a pinch of baking soda or a tsp of vinegar in the cooking water?

This problem can occur with rhubarb too and the remedy is a pinch of baking soda.

Aha!  Thank you argyllie.  I knew some clever person on here would know.   

[Lardman]

I don't seem to get multiple plants from mine (either Beetroot or Chard), but yeah they are nobbly cluster-seeds. No idea why mine don't seem to produce multiple plants though.

Its because Im special  It could be the type of seed, my were cheap been and queued rainbow chard, you can certainly get monogerm beetroot, perhaps you've had monogerm chard ?

when I prick out the clusters are no different to the forest of seedlings I get with everything else

Or it could be that 

[DD.]

Its because Im special  It could be the type of seed, my were cheap been and queued rainbow chard, you can certainly get monogerm beetroot, perhaps you've had monogerm chard ?

I've had a feel, both of my packets are definately lumpy.

[Will1983]

im going to give this a try this year.
ive never tried it before so no idea if i'll like it or not.

[mumofstig]

I've had a feel, both of my packets are definately lumpy.
 

Perhaps you need to see the doctor about that 

[DD.]

im going to give this a try this year.
ive never tried it before so no idea if i'll like it or not.

To be honest, I'm in the same boat.

[DD.]

I've had a feel, both of my packets are definately lumpy.
 

Perhaps you need to see the doctor about that 

I've looked it up on the internet and it's nothing to worry about. The internet's always right.

[Lee1978]

I tried this for the first time last year, made the mistake of putting 2 rows in and ended up chucking the whole lot out as we didn't like it   It grew huge and took a lot of room up so i would recomend planting a few plants

[arugula]

im going to give this a try this year.
ive never tried it before so no idea if i'll like it or not.

To be honest, I'm in the same boat.

But if it is like spinach and I've grown one called leaf beet, then you can't go far wrong, if you like spinach that is. We'll all find out soon.

[JayG]

According to the Wiki entry on "chard" it is the same thing as perpetual spinach.

Although they are both from the "beet" family they are not the same; I think perpetual spinach (aka spinach beet) has a much more spinachy taste than Swiss chard, which of course is either a good or bad thing depending on your personal preferences!