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http://www.durgan.org/URL/?WJWPJ 17 April 2012 Swiss Chard Planting

A 25 foot row of Swiss chard was planted. This plant grows well and makes a ready green, boiled or stir fried. Pictures depict the method of planting.

I grew this for the first time last year. As baby leaves they're a nice addition to a salad. Unfortunately I just found the larger leaves to taste of earth, and the stems left me unimpressed.

I'm trying again this year hoping it's an acquired taste!

Easy plant to grow, available most of the year, but yes who's got some nice recipes to make it worthwhile growing and eating.

I think it's quite nice! Cut the stalks out(nice with dips) shred the leavesl,then as usual with any green stuff,saute with oive oil,garlic,chillie and sea salt.

We eat quite a bit of chard, add chopped leaves (and in summer the chopped stems) to curries, savoury mince dishes etc. also goes well as sweet and sour with wine vinegar and slowly sweated onions.
Regarding the earthiness, I think it depends on which chard you have. Usually the red stuff is earthier than the white.

Just thought also, we sometimes remove stems from larger leaves and blanch each leaf before wrapping it round savoury filling, much as you would use vine leaves. Add a twist of lemon juice, nutmeg and sea salt flakes before serving.

Crikey Durgan we only have 15 plants and we sell organic veg boxes! How many plants do you have in your 25 foot row?

It's staple in our garden which is so easy to grow. Cooking, we use it like spinach. The oxalic acid in the plant gives it a chalky taste but just pop in a small amount of bicarb in the cooking water and it goes.

I will give most of the chard to the neighbours and drive them crazy. I also plan on making pressure canned juice. Also the row is convenient to plant, since I have to fill the area up with something. A nice row of such rich green at the peak of the season impresses visitors.

yes the neighbours! and our chickens like it too!

I like chard - for its looks!

I've tried really hard to like it but it just tastes too earthy for me. Shame because it grows really well and comes back even after snow and ice.

Coloured varieties are great too we grow the whit, red and yellow varieties and of course theres bright lights.

I mainly use chard as an over-wintering green... There's too many other good things to grow in the summer, but over-wintered chard gives fresh greens very early in the year.

Cut a few potatoes into slices (don't worry about peeling them) and blanch for a couple of minutes in boiling water. Drain. Cut the stalks from the Swiss Chard, blanch and drain. Grate a lot of cheese, something with a slightly nutty flavour is good. Grease a baking dish. Fill it with alternating layers of potato, chard and cheese, sprinkling nutmeg over each layer of cheese. Top the final layer of cheese with potato. Dot pieces of butter over the potato. Bake for 20 minutes or so—should be nicely brown with bubbles of cheese coming up between the potato slices. Good quality ham placed between the potato and chard is a nice addition.

I've been eating a rather nice chard-based version of spanakopita for much of this week.