Released: April 25, 2005

Rescue a ‘Catch-22’ Veggie by Planting Swiss Chard

TOPEKA, Kan. – Swiss chard suffers from a lack of respect. Despite its many attributes, it can be difficult to find in supermarkets or even farmers markets.

Yet, this leafy vegetable is low-calorie and colorful. It’s a good source of vitamin A, fiber and several minerals – including potassium. It’s easy to grow and a versatile food crop, according to Phil Sell, horticulturist with Kansas State University Research and Extension.

He suspects Swiss chard is trapped in the vegetable version of a Catch-22:

While fresh, Swiss chard is highly perishable. Once picked, its storage life in a refrigerator crisper drawer is just two to three days. That may be why many stores don’t carry it – which makes it difficult for people to try Swiss chard, to see if they like it. So, since they aren’t familiar with the vegetable, they don’t plant it in their home gardens or patio pots – where its perishability is less of an issue.

People who like other leafy vegetables loosely categorized as “greens,” however, would probably find Swiss chard a welcome and interesting addition to summertime meals, Sell said. He hopes they’ll try planting it in their garden this month.

Because Swiss chard basically is a beet that doesn’t form a storage root, gardeners grow it for both its leaves and its leaf stalks.

“If you pick the leaves while they’re young, you can add them to fresh green salads or use them on sandwiches. You can cook the stalks separately, perhaps in a stir fry. You can prepare mature leaves as a cooked pot herb, substitute them for the lettuce in ‘wilted’ lettuce, or substitute them for spinach in almost any recipe,” he said. “You can freeze chard for later use, too.

“Swiss chard tastes different,” Sell said. “Some people describe it as more ‘earthy’ than spinach. I’m not sure what that means, but I like it – as do the other members of my family. We usually enhance the flavor with bacon, herbs, onions, seasonings, butter or vinegar.”

In the garden, the plant is very efficient – productive – for the amount of garden space it requires, the horticulturist said. Five plants per person are enough to make Swiss chard a mealtime “regular.”

The plant is both cold- and heat-tolerant, producing from the time its leaves reach 8-10 inches tall until fall brings the first hard freeze. It can grow in full sun to part shade.

“It’s also what is called a ‘cut and come again’ crop,” Sell said. “If it gets infested by one of its few insect pests or if the plants get too big while you’re on vacation, you can just cut the plants off, 3 to 4 inches above ground. They’ll soon be pushing out new growth.”

Varieties that do well in the central United States include Fordhook Giant, a standard green with white leaf stalks; Rhubarb chard, which has bright red leaf stalks and veins; and Bright Lights (a 1998 All-America Selection winner), which has multicolored and sometimes neon-bright stems.

“Chard is so easy to grow that it’s a perfect crop for a children’s garden,” he said. “Because it’s quite attractive, it also can fit well into an edible landscape or with plants growing in pots on your patio.”

As purchased, Swiss chard seed looks a lot like Grape Nuts cereal, the horticulturist said. But, each “nut” is a capsule that holds several seeds. The capsules go about ½-inch deep in well-prepared, fertile soil – with a light sprinkling of sand, peat moss or soilless potting mix on top to prevent soil crusting. Once the seedlings are well-established, gardeners must thin them so they’re 8-10 inches apart.

After that, the routine is to sidedress with high-nitrogen fertilizer once a month and to water and control weeds regularly. (Swiss chard doesn’t compete well.)

“Harvesting is simply carefully cutting off the outer leaves, in order to avoid damaging the smaller leaves that are coming up in the middle,” Sell said. “You store them unwashed, to prevent unnecessary bruising. Then to prepare them for eating or cooking, you rinse them through several changes of water – lifting the leaves out and leaving any sand or soil behind.”

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.

Story by:
Kathleen Ward
kward@oznet.ksu.edu
K-State Research& Extension News