Planting and talking about chard - Bright Lights

Chard is a great crop, plant once - at the right time - and harvest for a year. It's much better in summer than true spinach and it's better in mid-winter too. It's about the same in spring and autumn.

Like spinach and the other leaves in the beet family it's high in oxalic acid so take care not to eat to much of it, we try to limit all the high oxalic acid greens to 1-2 cups every other day.

If you are new to my allotment videos you might find a bit of context useful. We live in the north west of England, in Lytham St Annes, which I believe is the equivalent of USA Zone 8. Fairly mild, but very windy.

We have three allotments in my family, mine (Steve), my wife's (Debbie) and my middle daughter's (Jennie). We also have a small kitchen garden at home. They are all managed in an integrated fashion, so don't expect to see the usual mix of veg on each plot. I do most of the planning and seed starting. We each have our own plots, but we all help each other out.

Jennie's plot has been designed as a traditional allotment, but we put a lot of focus on minimising the work we do there. It's basically a plant and forget it plot, full of garlic, leeks, onions, beetroot, brassicas, squash, beans and fruit trees. It's heavily mulched to reduce weeds and to reduce the need water.

Debbie's plot is mostly full of perennials, it's an ornemental plot. Again we did a lot of work to keep the weeds down and Debbie's approach is inspired by the TV programme The Ornamental Kitchen garden.

My plot is all about experimental growing, maximum productivity and year round abundance. As with all of the other plots I did a lot of work to control the weeds, but it's a high maintenance plot. I'm always planting, harvesting, experimenting and generally having a great time.

Collectively the plots deliver an amazing abundance of fruit and veg all year round. Debbie, Jennie, Jon and I are effectively self sufficient in veg all year round and in fruit for much of the year. During winter we sometimes have enough surplus to feed our local family. During the rest of the year when the surplus from our house garden comes on stream we have surpluses in some crops for quite a few friends as well.

This video provides an overview:


I do an update of the allotments, roughly twice a month, you can find the tours here:


Our approach to allotment life is to: grow as much as we possibly can, to be self-sufficient in veg all year round and in fruit in season, to give away our surplus to friends and family, and to have as much fun as possible. For more on self sufficiency check out these videos:


We are not slaves to gardening though, I spend about 14 hours a week on the plots (on average) Debbie and Jennie a lot less. We keep nudging that down as we eliminate non-productive work: like grass cutting, weeding and watering as much as practical. We are both newbie gardeners, only starting the allotments in 2016.

I'm a bit obsessive about the nutrient density of the veg that we grow and making the plots easy to work because it's through this allotment lifestyle and food that I've overcome a debilitating auto-immune disease.

I'm always aware though that it might not last so I make sure that I don't work too hard, eat as much organic fruit and veg I can and design the plots so that I can still work them when I flare up.

[janinemcqueen]

There is such a difference in gardening techniques between UK and Canada. I had rarely heard or seen any vegetables other than tomatoes, peppers, and cabbage family started in plug trays. Therefore many of the crops like spinach and Chard had a hard time getting going sewn direct. So I have started to do as you in the UK do. Beets, or beetroot as you call it is my first experiment.
I am learning a great deal from your videos. Thanks

[PetalsonthePavingSlabs]

we're big fans of chard in our house, we dehydrate it and use throughout the winter in veggie soups

[paulsavident]

Very useful Steve. I have some Chard plants ready to go out and think I will be sowing a few more, and also getting Perpetual Spinach sown. 👍

[WhatWeDoChannel]

That was great. I’m a big fan of Swiss Chard, it produces for us right up to hard frost.

Klaus

[wildedibles]

We grow beets instead of chard cuz the more tender leaves get eaten by bugs here but beets less so and i like the roots too
I get smaller beets sometimes eating all the leaves but not always
Much love xoxox

[DigwellGreenfingers]

Nice one Steve. My Bright Lights lasted all Winter and I lifted it in April to make way for new crops.

[Pete.Ty]

😊👍So you can plant chard deeper than it comes out of the module/pot. Can you do the same with beetroot? Thank you.

[tinkerbell]

Hi thanks for sharing this video. Grown a few Swiss chard plants this year. Planning on planting them in amongst the flower beds. Do they need full sun, or not fussy. Regards Lesley

[simondo]

Hi Steve, thanks for the video. I sowed some spinach (matador) in march in seed trays. I planted them out in early April and they all went to seed without producing any real amount of leaves to eat. I then sowed some more of the spinach early May. Again I planted them out into beds, at the end of May, but they have all now gone to seed, just like the first lot. You grow matador spinach, yours don't seem to go to seed early. Why do you think I may be having this problem?
Regards, Simon

[gooddrifters]

Very useful as always. Is that a tomatillo behind you?

[carolinebrett]

Mine were covered in black aphids and ants and pecked to pieces by far none have survived