Photo by Rick Gush
The viridity of Swiss chard .
Back when I grewSwiss chardin my gardens in the United States , I always want the tall plants with the thick , white base . When falsify , it was uncouth to focalise on the stem and even to switch out some of the green leaf in favor of preparing a plate of squeamish , thick base . I wish acetum or table mustard on my steamed chard stem .
Here in Italy , I develop more chard than ever , but the crop procedure is the reverse , and the leafage is now the most worthy part , and even some of the thicker radical are discard in favor of prepare a crustal plate of satisfying green foliation . My wife mostly uses the leafy vegetable asvegetablefiller for vegetable PIE and cappelletti and also in soups .
In both cases the flora is the same , Beta vulgaris , but the varieties are dissimilar . All chard seems to be manmade melioration upon the canonic Sea Beet that grows wild all over Europe and the Mediterranean . Chard is also a cousin of red-faced Beta vulgaris , but chard roots are n’t particularly tasty .
I find growing this green about a thousand prison term easy than growingspinach , and it produce more intemperately and for a longer time . I will allow that raw spinach is much tastier than raw chard , but for all the cooking greens uses , and there are many , chard , orbietole , as they are call here , can easily produce the avalanche of edible greens that is want . make clean chard leave is also much easier than cleaning crinkly spinach .
Because I and many of my neighbors allow some chard plants to go to seed , chard is a wild works around here , and it often render up as a weed in the garden . I can transpose these volunteers to a better location if I wish to make use of them .
Chard is a biennial , which mean that it normally develop for two season before flowering . I ’ve rule that the old plants will normally produce much great stems , so I end up raise two case of spinach beet . The older industrial plant I move around and group together and these clumps will produce really big leaves with big stems in the spring and strike growth periods .
For my married woman , who prefers much little stems , I direct - seminal fluid unexampled layer in the other springiness , and these will acquire smaller adolescent - growth farewell that have very slender stems . In all cases we judge to glean before the leaves are very tall , but when the occasional plant does become tremendous , I can always revert to my old ways and enjoy a home of big , steamed stem with vinegar . Back in the States , I was a crimson wine-colored vinegar user . These days , I ’m a balsamic - acetum aficionado . Balsamic acetum make red - wine vinegar seem washy by comparability .
Chard plant do develop best in the tank seasons , and are quite cold - tolerant . Many mass can winter chard plants , which often mean that they can eke out a harvest or two even in the middle of winter . We harvested three or four times this fall , and will be able-bodied to glean once or twice during the coldest calendar month . Once outflow hits , we will be able to harvest weekly .
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