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Post by pierre on Jul 30, 2010 7:53:50 GMT -5
Swiss Chard is among the easiest leaf vegetables. Few pests (leafminers), few deseases (anthracnose).
Most Rainbow Chards have outstanding color appeal but in my opinion grow very large.
Recently appeared here southern France a new Chard Type: the “Barese” that is sold as 1kg whole plant just like a heavy romaine lettuce. For a chard very compact and dense leaved with thick plain dark green leaves. Medium petiole width.
Why not aim at rainbow colored Bareses
An old var is “Blonde de Paris” that one can guess as with yellow-green leaves. Good selections are compact if not small with extra wide petioles and savoyed blonde leaves.
Why not combine the blonde leaves with the Rainbow Chard colors.
That’s how, years ago, I grew them all for seeds: Rainbow Chard, Barese and Blonde de Paris.
From the first sowing of seeds gathered on Barese and BdP mother plants I got aside many green Barese x BdP all and full Rainbow color diversity on intermediate plants.
Segregating is going yearly with selection for compact, smaller thick plain leaves displaying nice colors.
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Post by pierre on Jul 30, 2010 8:00:43 GMT -5
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Post by johno on Jul 30, 2010 10:29:35 GMT -5
Interesting. It almost has the look of bok choy.
I'd like to see pictures of your breeding project. Sounds like a good idea.
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Post by pierre on Aug 4, 2010 6:05:11 GMT -5
Primarily I am an amateur rose breeder and as such warned against "breeding for the beautifull picture" that has been so damaging to roses with, at my place, so many modern ones not fullfilling catalog promises.
Another point: my chards are not fixed and any photo would be of an individual plant, may be never replicated.
Last, in a family with many pro or amateur photographers, I never, never do...
Only issue would be growing some: they grow quite fast.
If sending seeds from Europe to the US was not said to be difficult...
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Post by ilex on Apr 12, 2011 3:40:15 GMT -5
Why don't you cross with colored beets?
Chard and beet are the same plant, and beets are usually smaller, with more leaves, and many times, better flavored.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Apr 12, 2011 7:01:15 GMT -5
I don't think chard and beet are at all the same in looks or in flavor. I'm fascinated that you think they taste the same. Do you notice a flavor difference between white and brown eggs? I don't, but my husband does. Last night I was speaking to a friend who buys some of my excess eggs and she AND her husband say that not only is there a difference between the white and brown eggs, they say there is a significant difference in the flavor of our eggs and those of other local chicken owners as well.
I'm interested in your work as well Pierre. I agree with Johno, the photo looks very much like a dwarf pak choi. If you could bring out the colors as well, I think it would do well in the markets here in the states.
As for mailing the seeds... It isn't really all that difficult. There is a risk involved. There have been some cases where the transaction has been halted in process so to speak. I have made several transactions and so far, not shared this experience. The consequences are disappointing but not tragic.
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Post by heidihi on Apr 12, 2011 7:20:30 GMT -5
if I saw this for sale ...I would never know it was chard! I too would think it was a bok choy of some type..but I sure would grab it and try it! I love the way it looks I bet it is a wonderful taste! chard is such a nice vegetable ..so easy to grow ..I do think some chard tastes like beet greens for sure! and the seeds look almost exactly the same as beet seeds (and the reason I know this is because I have two bags of seeds one is chard and one are beets and I have no clue what is what because I did not label them  |
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Post by mnjrutherford on Apr 12, 2011 7:57:12 GMT -5
LOL Yea, the seeds are twins huh? I like 'em best on pizza. Wash, shred, toss with olive oil, THIN slices of onion and garlic, salt, pepper, then spread them over the dough and bake. I also like it with a light sprinkle of olive oil and shreds of dried tomato or fresh tomato for a change up.
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Post by heidihi on Apr 12, 2011 8:04:24 GMT -5
card seeds on pizza?
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Post by ottawagardener on Apr 12, 2011 8:46:11 GMT -5
I'd happily grow something like that - good brassica substitute for problematic areas. If you need someone to do some grow outs for you, just let me know.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Apr 12, 2011 20:43:38 GMT -5
LOL NO!!! Not seeds. Sorry, I SURE didn't make that very clear huh? I meant the leaves shredded.
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Post by puttgirl on Apr 13, 2011 10:01:44 GMT -5
Is it too early to plant chard here, (SW PA)? It's way too wet anyway. First time growing chard so not sure when to start it.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Apr 13, 2011 10:23:40 GMT -5
Is it too early to plant chard here, (SW PA)? It's way too wet anyway. First time growing chard so not sure when to start it. My strategy with chard is to put on my mud boots the day the snow melts (March 15th), and slop through the mud, and poke individual seed pods into the ground. If I'm not feeling that ambitious, I'll put on my mud boots sometime in April and dig a furrow with a clay-globbed hoe, and scatter seed into the furrow. Chard does fine for me even if I don't plant it until mid May. |
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Post by mnjrutherford on Apr 14, 2011 6:09:47 GMT -5
My chard is starting to pop up through the mulch. It likes to be put out in the cold along with peas, beets, cabbages, kale, lettuce, mustards, and the like.
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Post by ottawagardener on Apr 14, 2011 12:36:34 GMT -5
Bietina, a kind of thin leaved chard, will self seed for me so I imagine it doesn't rot easily in cold, wet soil. That's not to say that it doesn't of course especially as my experience is mostly with well drained soil. I haven't tried to wildlize other kinds of chard yet though I did plant out some rainbow chard with my parsnips to see how the seeds would perform planted nice and cold and early.
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