Harvesting Swiss chard
I LOVE chard, and wouldn’t be without it in my garden in winter. Of course, you can sow drills in spring and pick the young leaves for salads, but I prefer to make a sowing in early August so that I can pull the robust, mature leaves from October right through until it runs to seed in May.
This biennial veg is related to beetroot, and you can certainly see (and taste) the similarities in the red-stemmed varieties (the milder tasting ‘Fantasy’ is my favourite).
The almost earthy taste endorses the fact that this veg is nutrientpacked. If your energy levels are flagging at all then get some on your plate
– the iron and magnesium it contains is sure to perk you up! Chard leaves are excellent shredded, then sautéed in butter, black pepper and nutmeg. A gratin is an excellent way to enjoy the stems (white-shanked ‘Lucullus’ works brilliantly here).
If you eat with your eyes, ‘Bright Lights’ is an especially flamboyant selection, producing plants with stem colours ranging from white through to pink, red, yellow and orange, while ‘Oriole’ yields truly beautiful golden stems.
Harvest throughout winter, either snapping off single stems or cutting down individual plants completely; if you choose the latter method, just ensure the growing point remains intact so plants can recover.