Swiss chard
Vegetable · cool season · also called silverbeet, rainbow chard
When to plant
- Sow seeds outdoors about 2 weeks before your average last spring frost.
- It can also be grown as a fall crop, timed back from your first fall frost.
- Ready to harvest about 55 days after planting.
Heat tolerant; harvest outer leaves all season.
Frost dates depend on where you live. Enter your ZIP code to get exact dates.
Dates by zone: 3a 3b 4a 4b 5a 5b 6a 6b 7a 7b 8a 8b 9a 9b 10a 10b
Growing basics
- Sun
- Part sun (4–6 hours)
- Spacing
- 8–12 in
- Soil temperature
- At least 50°F
- Time to harvest
- About 55 days
- Containers
- At least 2 gallons
- Plant family
- Beet and spinach family
- Harvest per plant
- About 2 lb
- Seeds keep
- About 4 years
Companions
Keep apart: Horseradish. Horseradish spreads aggressively. Give it its own spot.
Keep apart: Mint. Mint spreads aggressively into neighbors. Keep it in a pot.
Keep apart: Fennel (bulb). Fennel slows the growth of most garden plants. Grow it on its own.
Keep apart: Sunchoke (Jerusalem artichoke). Sunchokes spread aggressively and shade neighbors.
Pests and problems
Grow it well
Tips
- Soak big, hard seeds overnight. Peas, beets, chard, and okra sprout faster after 8 to 12 hours in water. Plant them right away, and don't soak them longer than a day, or they can rot.
- Pick greens from the outside in. Take the outer leaves of lettuce, kale, chard, and collards, and leave the center to keep growing. One planting keeps giving for weeks.
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