Five Color Silverbeet Swiss Chard

Southeastern Washington State, we've had a mild winter thus far, chard still going under greenhouse, also did excellent through spring, early summer! This is easy to grow, low maintenance.

I grew these and rainbow chard in adjoining rows. They were very similar in production as far as chard goes, but this little beauty also produces a delightfully large root which can be pickled like beets.

I'm zone 9b and grew these as a winter crop. They survived many frosty nights and tons of rain. The slugs were mildly interested in the leaves. I had a bad infestation of black aphids on a few plants during the frosty months (I'm assuming the ladybugs were all hibernating by this time) but I sprayed with some ins. soap and the plants acted like nothing bad had happened. Grew well in containers and in the garden. The plants placed in the garden with full sun did the best (HUGE). The colors are amazing. I had pink, yellow, white, and red. The red plants' leaves are a darker green that turn red as the leaves age. The yellow has super broad, thick stems. The white grew very low to the ground; almost no stem at all. I cooked the chard stems like they were celery. They really brighten up any meal. Easy to start; east to grow; beautiful; delicious.

When the world is taken over by lemurs and humans have to run away with a few heirloom seeds in their pockets, they'd better remember Swiss chard. It grows in 20 degrees but even better in 120 degrees! Cut it, and it comes right back. Chard even improves the soil, removing salt. (You may not even need to salt your chard because of this.) My favorite ways to cook it is to replace the spinach in palak paneer with chard then add a little lemon juice or yogurt to balance the tang. I also like to cut it into ribbons and sprinkle on top of pizza. It crisps up in such a delightful way! Honestly, why wouldn't you want to grow this? When your lettuce and spinach bolt, your chard will still be doing fine. My only complaint is regarding leaf miners. When they move in, they'll turn an entire bed of beautiful chard into dry, brown leaves. I clear-cut everything, give it all to my chickens, then sprinkle the stems and soil with DE and neem oil. New leaves grow in within a week.

Where to start with this chard? It's delicious, it's beautiful, it's easy to grow, it's plentiful, and was (by far) the most harvested green out of our garden this year. It seemed like the more we harvested, the faster it grew. By the end of the summer we were giving bags of fresh chard away every week! I should mention that all of this chard came from a single 1'x8' raised bed... how's that for impressive growth?! Everyone who got chard from us was amazed by the gorgeous colors and then even more by the flavor. This chard is leaps and bounds ahead of others in every category and will be in my garden every year from here on out. Do yourself a favor and plant some!