PREMIER SEEDS DIRECT - Swiss Chard - Rainbow Mix - 75 Seeds - Organic

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Perpetual is an open-pollinated chard that has tasty, smooth leaves that taste like spinach and are ready to harvest in 50 days. It produces all summer and can last for many years in zone 7 and warmer climates. The plants grow 20 inches tall. If you have soil that is rich in organic matter and you fertilized with a slow-release organic nitrogen source at planting time, there won’t be much else that Swiss chard ever needs from you. If your soil is poor or you want to promote more vigorous growth, you can continue to apply blood meal, feather meal or cottonseed meal at the manufacturer’s recommended rate of application — or less often. Using more fertilizer than recommended is likely to have an adverse effect on plants, so don’t go overboard. I like to use fish emulsion , which is an organic liquid fertilizer. Just make sure that if using a fish fertilzer on chard that the first number in the NPK ratio is the highest. For example, a 5-1-1 fertilzer has more nitrogen than phosphorus and potassium. Swiss Chard Pests & Diseases

I don’t typically save chard seeds as I remove the crop at the end of the season to prepare for next season’s sowings,” says Horticultural Consultant Colin Skelly. With directly sown Swiss chard, the seedlings need to be thinned to a final spacing of 30cm to allow the plants room to grow as they mature. If you need a little help in the water-retention department, some straw mulch can help to maintain more moisture in the soil.

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Swiss chard seeds can be collected and stored from plants in their second year of growth, to save until spring to sow. Rhubarb Chard’ or ‘Ruby Chard’ is the cultivar that gives Swiss Chard its reputation for ornamental value. Though the leaves are tasty enough, this variety is probably one for decorative value: the scallopy, wavy leaves are a brilliant, deep shade of green while the petioles, midribs and even the veins are an equally vivid ruby red.

Plant your Swiss chard seeds at a depth of ½ inch (1 cm) in rich, loosened, moist soil. If you’re starting your seeds indoors, plant the seeds in a flat bed of individual seed plugs with two to three seeds in each plug. For salads, harvest baby leaves up to about 5cm (2in) long, and preferably eat them the same day, as they don’t keep well in the fridge. Chard is one of those vegetables that is among the essentials of increasingly-popular Mediterranean Cuisine, and that makes sense because this leafy green is a native of Sicily. Swiss chard grows best in the cooler time of the year. Sow chard in the garden 2 to 4 weeks after all frost has passed in spring. Grow Swiss chard again in autumn, Nothing will go to waste, as everything is edible on the Chard Peppermint. Its leaves can be used just like spinach or cabbage and mid-ribs can be cooked as separate veg or shredded and added to soups and casseroles. Harvest your chard from July through to October and add this delicious variety to your favourite autumnal recipes. Growing Information

Key features of chard

Grey Mould can affect any part of chard, spreading to and damaging other plants too. Ensure good air circulation by thinning plants as needed. Why are the leaves of my chard plant shredded around the edges?

By all means, allow your spring-planted Chard plants to grow through summer but it is not a good idea to plant Swiss Chard for growing during the summer months. Suttons strives to ensure that all its plants are delivered to you in the perfect condition for planting. While the majority of our nursery plants cope well with slight delays in intransit, sadly, the time it takes to deliver to certain locations in the UK means that we can't guarantee this for some of our smaller plug products and tender bedding and vegetable lines, which do not respond well to the extra journey time. So regretfully while we offer the majority of our live plant offering nationwide, we are unable to ship plugs, begging plants and tender vegetable plants to the following areas: HS, IV41-IV49, IV51, IV55-56, KW15-KW17, PA34, PA41-48, PA60-PA78, PA80, PH40-PH44, TR21-TR24, ZE1-ZE3. Swiss chard is also a popular fall crop. If growing Swiss chard seeds in the fall, start them about ten weeks before the average first autumn frost date. You can sow them directly in the soil or start them indoors and transplant them out when they are at least four weeks old. How to Plant Swiss Chard Seeds To get an early start, sow Swiss chard indoors as early as 3 to 4 weeks before the average last frost date in spring for transplanting out when plants are 3 to 4 inches (7-10cm) tall. Both the brilliant green leaves and the bright red stalks of Swiss Chard have their own rich flavours which vary from cultivar to cultivar.Swiss chard seeds can be direct sown any time after the last frost date, and the seeds will germinate once the soil temperature has reached 50°. For earlier harvests, Swiss chard may be started indoors three to four weeks before the last frost date. Sow seeds in sterile seed-starting mix, with two seeds per cell. The seeds can sprout in as few as five days if the soil temperature is between 50° and 85°. One week after the seeds were sown, thin seedlings to one per cell. Perpetual Spinach’ is my favourite chard because of its little and often mode of harvesting,” says Master Horticulturist Colin Skelly. Beetroot’s botanical name is Beta vulgaris, so Chard’s (rather lengthy) botanical name is Beta vulgaris subsp. cicla. Young chard leaves can be harvested after just two months, and fully grown leaves after three months. Cut them from the outside of the plant, close to the soil. New leaves will shoot from the centre of the plant as the season progresses. Where to plant and place your chard

Swiss chard is best enjoyed the same day it was cut, but it can be stored, unwashed, in an unsealed plastic bag for up to a week. It can also be frozen or used in a canning recipe for later enjoyment. Any type of loam will do so long as you till it well and deeply, and work in ample organic compost or well-rotted manure. As average frost dates vary very widely in the United Kingdom it is not possible to specify a single timeframe for the whole country for planting Chard. It can also be sown under cover in the autumn to crop the following year. 1) Harvesting Chard Seeds Leafminers are fly larvae that tunnel through leaf tissue. The damage is unsightly but will not be fatal to the plant. When you find leaves with leafminer damage, remove and dispose of them. As with aphids, floating row cover is a good preventative tool for leafminers because it prevents adults from laying their eggs on plants in the first place.Young leaves can be used raw in salads, while larger leaves can be steamed like spinach or added to stir-fries. The stems and mid-ribs need to be cooked for slightly longer, so are best removed and cooked first. Since spider mites are a little tougher to get rid of, you can turn to the big guns if you can’t get rid of them.