Tasty , nutritive , and fecund with beautiful savoyed leaves and crisp , colourful stalks , Swiss chard is a garden loyalist that gives gardeners an superfluous - retentive growing time of year and multiple crop .
Both heat and cold tolerant , it flourish in the coolheaded temperature of spring and crepuscle , but it ’s also productive during the blistering month of summer – only slowing down a bit when temperatures move up into the mid-80s and above .
jolly cold-blooded unfearing , flavors better with a touch of frost , and plant can handle temperatures as low-pitched as 15 ° F .
Photo by Lorna Kring.
This means they ’re readily winter if you ’re in a sweet spot of mild or cool – but not too stale – wintertime .
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Growth slack to a front crawl , or even a stand in the cold and darkest month of December through February .
But once daylight time of day begin to lengthen , new growth emerges with vim , and leaf can be harvested again beginning in March – with plants that are every bite as vigorous in their second growing season as their first before they bolt and set seed .
The ultimate in crop convenience , you’re able to plant once and harvest for two growing season !
If you like your leafy greens former and easy , get comfortable and pick up how to overwinter dusty - hardy Swiss chard .
Here ’s what ’s ahead :
What You’ll Learn
Bountiful Biennials
A member of the common beet home , Swiss chard ( genus Beta vulgaris ) is a biennial that congeal come in its 2nd year of growth .
This highly nutritious leafy special K is most often grown as an annual , with plants sown in other springtime and murder from the veggie bed in fall .
However , this productive veg is also very sluttish to overwinter and responds with a second season of fertile growing – given the correct conditions .
A touch of frost actually better the taste , because the cold have leaves to mislay their bitter tones , revealing a milder , sweet flavor .
Swiss chard can survive temperatures down to 15 ° farad , or the winter climate ofUSDA Hardiness Zone8 .
Overwintering in warm regions of Zone 7 is potential , provide plants are heavily mulched and located in a protected site .
Andcontainer - grown plantsare another good selection for overwintering in colder realm .
Reasonably sized pots and container can be moved under shelter or nestle into nooks and fissure against fences , foundations , and shrubbery for protection and additional passion , in effect improving their ability to withstand the common cold .
Planting for Winter
In cultivation , Swiss chard is add together to the wintertime garden with either other or late crop .
Early-Sown Crops
Early crops are planted in fountain and reap throughout leap , summertime , and fall .
The established plant are then left in place over winter and go semi - abeyant , with lilliputian or no maturation .
But once daytime hour begin to increase around mid - February , new outgrowth come out quickly , make chard one of the earliest of the leafy commons to harvest from the garden .
New leaf mature quickly , and babe greens can be picked in two to four weeks ’ sentence .
Or they can be leave to arise larger , with mature leaves quick for harvest about 35 days after raw outgrowth begin .
Plants then provide a steady provision of folio until they bolt and polish off their lives after bloom and setting seeded player in their 2d time of year .
Lift and discard plants when they bolt , or reserve a few plants to cease their cycle and reap your own germ in previous summer to early tumble .
Late-Sown Crops
A late crop is plant towards the end of the growing season , typically throughout August and former September .
But with late crops , it ’s important that plant have fair to middling time to develop a strong , tidy root system before insensate weather arrives . As such , seeds must be sown at least four to six weeks prior to the first expected Robert Lee Frost date .
Late crops allow for young , tender leaves about 30 days after sowing and can be harvested through declension .
Overwintered former crops are ready for harvest again too soon the following bound after young growth set about , and provide a steady supply of foliage through spring , summertime , and fall .
Should late crops bolt in summertime , snub the stem cheeseparing to the base and foliation will continue . Dig up former crops in their second fall season .
For maximum convenience and productiveness , plant successive early , mid - season , and late crop in one twelvemonth and savor a perpetual harvest for two grow seasons without resowing – that ’s harvest efficiency at its dependable !
Provide Cover in the Coldest Months
Swiss chard can easily resist several light frost without protection , and flavors dulcorate when they ’ve been kiss by moth-eaten temperatures .
But they ’ll also benefit from some protection throughout the coldest month of winter .
A blanket of snow provides good insularity , but if it is n’t uniform , roots can be exposed to freeze and thaw cycles , reduce their chance of survival .
A more reliable method acting is to allow a thick , four - inch mulch of leaves or straw around and between plants to insulate the abeyant roots .
Afloating row covercan also provide protection against the elements and can be used in garden beds or with containers . Agribon 50 masking offer a high level of protection .
Agribon Floating run-in Covers
These areavailable in various sizes at Arbico Organics .
If call for , leave excess protection for container plants with a two- to four - in layer of leafage orstraw mulch , and/or a floating row cover .
What to Do After Overwintering
When growing resumes in spring , remove wintertime mulch and hoe light between plants to loosen the topsoil , take tending not to disturb the root .
In other leaping , utilise a top - dressing of elderly compost or manure around and between the plants to enrich the soil . A water - soluble all - purpose 10 - 10 - 10 ( NPK ) fertilizer can be applied in former summer if take .
All of the necessary cultivation inside information can be found in ourguide on how to establish and originate Swiss chard .
A Hefty Harvest
One of the easiest , most nutritionally dense , and most productive crops in the veggie darn , Swiss chard readily overwinters in Zones 8 through 11 .
Remember to mulch the roots or total a floating row screen for protection . And tuck container into protected areas if needed .
Once leaping get in again , kick back and relish a goodish harvest without engraft a single seed !
And to get word Swiss chardin your garden , supply these clause to your reading material list next :
Photos by Lorna Kring © involve the Experts , LLC . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.See our TOSfor more inside information . Product pic via Arbico Organics . Uncredited photo : Shutterstock .
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Lorna Kring
