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Post by reed on Nov 28, 2015 4:58:32 GMT -5
I have a little patch of Swiss Chard that I planted back in April. There probably isn't more than a dozen plants but we have been eating off it for months. It hasn't shown any sign of wanting to bolt to seed. Same thing last year and I hoped it might be bi-annual but it was winter killed. Last year was the first time I grew it. It's a great productive crop here, it grew through the rainy season early on and kept growing in the hot dry. It looks beautiful right now, especially the red and yellow, despite the fact we pick some a couple times a week.
What do I need to do get seeds from this plant?
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Post by philagardener on Nov 28, 2015 7:50:28 GMT -5
Swiss chard is the same species as garden beet, selected for leaves rather than roots (they interbreed freely). I would mulch heavily and if the plants make it through the winter they should bloom in the Spring. I also can overwinter Swiss Chard here in a low tunnel if the winter isn't particularly harsh, and it continues to grow in cool weather.
I have had first year plants bolt under stressed conditions in my garden, but that is probably not a desirable trait (although the stalks can be prepared as a vegetable).
Colors on the rainbow chard variety tend to blend and muddy if allowed to cross, so those are maintained commercially as separate lines and combined as seed to keep the colors bright.
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Post by ferdzy on Nov 28, 2015 8:43:12 GMT -5
Only thing I can add to what philagardener said is to say that since they are, in effect, beets, you could dig them up and keep them in a cold cellar for replanting in the spring. Expect the roots to be much larger than your average beet; also deeper and more branching. Not selected for a nice round shape at all.
I have left mine in the ground and had them survive very nicely overwinter, but we get very good snow coverage usually. We also have sandy, well-drained soil that really helps things survive the winter in the open garden. Finally, when I have lost overwintering Swiss chard plants, it has mostly been to mice/voles and not to cold. Ymmv.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Nov 28, 2015 15:55:49 GMT -5
In my garden, Swiss chard overwinters about 3 years in 4.
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Post by mskrieger on Dec 9, 2015 14:04:18 GMT -5
What Ferdzy said, except you don't even need a root cellar--they'll keep in the produce drawer of your refrigerator just as well. Can replant 'em as soon as the soil can be dug, as long as the risk of hard frost (26F) is past.
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Post by reed on Dec 9, 2015 17:32:42 GMT -5
We have had a couple mornings down to 19F and 22 F and it hasn't slowed it down, it is growing beautiful. I suspect our wet clay soil and the extra cold, with lots of below zero including a few day time highs below zero is what killed it last year. Wish I could plant about 1/2 an acre of this stuff. Bet it wouldn't take long to select a completely hardy strain. I'm thinking of digging some up and putting it in a cold frame on the front patio facing south. Maybe even plant some more, I'v done that with lettuce and radishes before and ate it fresh all winter. It's fun to step out the front door, knock off the snow and pick a fresh salad in January. Freaks the dinner guests out. I might try it with carrots too.
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Post by mskrieger on Dec 10, 2015 7:15:09 GMT -5
Cold frame plan sounds ideal. I'm impressed you've had 19F and it keeps growing! Sounds like good stuff.
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Post by steev on Dec 10, 2015 21:24:36 GMT -5
Chard does fine on my farm through Winters of mid-teens; doesn't grow much unless daily min/max exceeds 100F degrees total, so not so useful to harvest, but bolts like crazy when things warm up, so no seed shortage; I expect it to become naturalized as a useful "weed", as have Arugula sylvatica and Patience dock, Rumex patiencia; cool-grown leaves of chard and arugula are indeed excellent salad (not raw Dock, though; yuck!), very nice with pea-tips; I suppose if I got snow regularly, I'd cover the plants with sacks of bunny-beans or leaves (easy to move around, being bagged, and good to have already in the plantings when I get around to spreading them). Wouldn't lead to winter harvest, only survival for seeding and re-growth.
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Post by richardw on Dec 12, 2015 12:10:17 GMT -5
I was given this Chard from cesarz a year ago to grow a crop of seed from it,the 6x1m bed would have had 50+ plants before winter which ended up been a cold dry winter with no snow cover when two -10Cdeg in a row hit, from that number only 12 are now flowering and out of that 12 only about three handled those two frost really well, the rest only just made it through, the seed from this crop should be a lot tougher now. I would like to send this seed over to someone who could put the variety through and even harder winter to test it out, anyone keen on some seed once its ready?  |
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Post by reed on Dec 13, 2015 7:13:25 GMT -5
I don't recognize it in the photo, is that it in the upper right?
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Post by khoomeizhi on Dec 13, 2015 9:00:05 GMT -5
i figure it's the tall stuff on the bed in the center of the shot.
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Post by richardw on Dec 13, 2015 12:11:17 GMT -5
Yes its the center plants standing straight up,Cylindrical beet right bottom, ive got them held up with netting so they dont flop over other beds. They are not as tall as others from the Beta group that ive grown over the years though, the mangelbeet would easily grow double the height
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Post by steev on Dec 15, 2015 22:30:42 GMT -5
My Rainbow chard is so seedy that I expect to get it established as self-seeding this year; I may plant it outside the critter-corral, just to test its survival value against the critters; the Perpetual chard also looks like it's not going away; excellent!; useful greens I don't have to plant and futz with. I really appreciate plants that do their thing without much input from me; it's not like I don't have enough other stuff to do.
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Post by reed on Dec 16, 2015 5:53:26 GMT -5
I hope it will do the same here. I have more of the rainbow and some perpetual to plant this spring. Little chance it would survive outside the fence though, rabbits and deer would probably mow it down immediately. Unless it could grow unattended in weedy areas. Critters don't bother stuff so much if its camouflaged in weeds. I haven't messed with moving it yet and it is growing very nicely. I'v stopped harvesting it as much, poor stuff might need it's strength if it's to make seeds next year.
Lettuce, arugula and broccoli rabe are doing good too. Kale is apparently hardy here but unfortunately we don't like it much. We can't keep that broccoli rabe ate down fast enough so some of it is blooming, wonder if it will stay warm long enough to get seed or maybe I should keep it clipped? There is plenty of it so probably don't matter as far as finding out how it handles winter.
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Post by richardw on Dec 16, 2015 13:39:22 GMT -5
And its amazing how many years after a seed crop Chard will self-seed, i hoed some plants the other day in a area that had a seed crop 4 years ago, to think that seed was sitting in the soil all that time.
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