How to Grow Swiss Chard From Seed

Swiss chard is a cool-season crop that also holds up in summer heat, so every type in the family gives you a long planting window. Direct-sow the seed clusters outdoors about one to two weeks after your last spring frost, once the soil has warmed to at least 50F. For a steady supply, sow a short row again in late summer, roughly 40 days before your first fall frost. In mild-winter areas you can plant in early fall for winter harvests, and the same timing works whether you are growing a colored-stem type or a classic white-stemmed variety.

Pick a spot in full sun to part shade with rich, well-drained soil. Sow the seed clusters half an inch deep, spacing them 2 to 3 inches apart in rows about 18 inches apart. Water gently and keep the bed evenly moist; seedlings usually appear in 5 to 10 days at 50 to 85F. This works the same for green-leaf, bright-stemmed, and rainbow-mix chard.

Each chard seed is a cluster that holds several seeds, so expect two to four seedlings from one planting spot regardless of variety. When they reach about 3 inches tall, thin to the strongest plant every 6 to 12 inches, snipping the extras at soil level rather than pulling. You can also start chard indoors and transplant it out after frost.

Keep the soil consistently moist, about an inch of water a week, and mulch to hold moisture and block weeds. A dose of balanced fertilizer or compost every few weeks keeps the leaves coming on every type, from vivid ruby and gold stems to broad white-stemmed varieties. Watch for leaf miners and aphids, and pick off any Cercospora leaf-spotted foliage to keep plants clean.

Climate note: chard shines where spinach fails. In hot regions like Texas, Florida, and the Deep South, grow it in part afternoon shade and treat it as a fall-through-spring green, since growth slows at the peak of summer. In the Upper Midwest and Northeast, a spring sowing carries you into fall, and a layer of straw mulch can keep plants cropping past the first light frosts.

Swiss chard grows happily beside plants that deter pests and pull in beneficial insects. Good neighbors include beans, brassicas like cabbage and kale, onions, and the four below. Keep it away from other beets and from spinach, since they share pests and compete for the same spot.

Start picking when the outer leaves are 6 to 8 inches tall, usually around 50 to 60 days from sowing depending on the variety. Cut or snap the outer leaves about half an inch above the crown and leave the center growing point in place. This cut-and-come-again method keeps every type of chard producing new leaves for months, right through fall.

Toss young leaves into salads for color, or cook the mature leaves like spinach. Colored-stem types add ruby, gold, pink, or rainbow tones to the plate, while white-stemmed varieties give you broad, tender ribs. The stems are edible too: slice them, start them cooking a couple of minutes ahead so they soften, then add the chopped leaves. Chard is a natural in sautes with garlic, soups, stir-fries, frittatas, and pasta, and the leaves freeze well after a quick blanch.

• Patchy germination usually means the bed dried out; keep it evenly moist until sprouts appear.
• Small, crowded plants point to skipped thinning, since each seed is a multi-seed cluster.
• Ragged, tunneled leaves are leaf miners, so remove affected leaves and cover young plants with row cover.
• Chard rarely bolts in its first year, but a plant that overwinters may flower in spring, which is your cue to let it set seed or pull it.