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Swiss Chard
When planning a vegetable garden you might want to consider Swiss chard. Swiss chard is a leafy vegetable and looks much like lettuce. Chard, however, has a much thicker texture and stem. Swiss chard is a vegetable that all gardeners love to grow, because it is so easy. All stages of gardeners can grow Swiss chard comfortably. You can grow Swiss chard in a container, a greenhouse, a window box, or a vegetable garden. Swiss chard is a fresh, edible, and tasty addition to salads and more. Posted Friday, April 21, 2006  E-mail this page  Printer-friendly page Many people use Swiss chard like they use spinach; in eggs, as a side, or in meat dishes. The leaves on this vegetable are huge, green, and crinkly looking. While most stalks will grow to be white, there are new variations of the Swiss chard that will grow yellow or reddish. This is a great vegetable plant to grow in areas where you have very little rain during the summer months, as it is a drought tolerant plant.
Swiss chard grows best in grow zones five and six where the summer is warm and dry and winters are fairly mild. You can grow Swiss chard in the winter months in a cold house. This can be done if you keep them in the sun or in only partially shaded areas. The soil that you grow this vegetable in should be a well draining soil that is high in balanced nutrients. This plant, if nurtured, can grow to be about two feet tall and will spread out about a foot wide. Because this is such a leafy vegetable, some gardeners will use Swiss chard in the garden to add texture and greenery.
This plant has problems with little beetles that find their way to the leaves. If you are growing Swiss chard for eating and find that you are always battling these beetles, you can cover the plants with fine netting that will let them breathe while keeping off the beetles.
Swiss chard is also called beet leafs, leaf beets, and silver beets. If your plant is a little tough tasting you need to water more, when the plant has been under stress too long because of a lack of water, the stems gets a little rough and not as tasty as it could be E-mail this page Printer-friendly page
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