Chard

Chard, also known as Swiss chard, spinach beet, perpetual spinach or silver beet, will provide you with a continuous supply of edible leaves in hot summers.

It is therefore a good substitute for spinach in climates where the summers are very hot.

Chards are related to beets, and you should grow them using, basically, the same methods that you would use to grow beets.

However, since the leaves of chards, rather than the roots, are eaten, you should grow chards in a richer soil than the soil in which you would grow beets. Rich soil will encourage leaf growth.

You also do not have to dig the soil as deeply for chard as you would for beets.

Sow chard seeds twice - once in April and a second time at the end of July.

This will ensure that you have chards available for use until the end of the season.

Chard seeds should be sown in rows 15 inches apart.

Later, thin the plants out so that they are 8 inches apart.

Once the chard plants are thinned out, they will only need to be watered occasionally and to have any weeds around them removed.

You should gather the chard leaves as soon as they have reached sufficient size, so that a young, tender supply will always be growing.

Chard plants can tolerate a slight amount of frost, so they will continue to grow leaves in the open until late in the season.

If you would like a supply of chard throughout the winter, lift up the roots from the plants that were sown last and move them to a frame or a greenhouse.