Chard work, but well worth it

THERE’S not much growing in our vegetable plot now, save for a few leeks and parsnips and one clump of Swiss chard.

The rest of the chard has gone to seed or been eaten by slimy visitors, but this remaining bunch is going strong and provides us with a few leaves now and again.

Swiss chard is an attractive plant and as well as a vegetable, it can be used as a decorative addition to a flowerbed, where the brightly coloured stems blend with the blooms more often seen there.

This is useful in a small garden where room is tight and the space has to double both as flower and vegetable plot.

The variety we grow is called Bright Lights and the resulting plants grow with a range of coloured stems from white through yellow, orange, pink and red.

It is easy to grow and will provide leaves for months, often right through the winter in a fairly sheltered spot. Like much of our vegetable crop this year, our chard was badly affected by slugs and snails, so it is amazing that this one plant has managed to escape their attention.

Once chard is growing happily, it needs little work, save for watering in dry periods and regular cropping. The seeds are sown from late spring to midsummer in shallow drills in fertile soil. It likes nitrogen rich soil so is a good crop to put in after a pea crop has finished.

There is no point sowing chard early to get ahead, as this biennial crop will act as annual and go to seed in the same year. This is just is what happened with my first plants this year. So it really does need to be left until late spring for the first sowing.

Now late spring, midsummer, what does this mean?

If spring is considered to mid-March to mid-June and summer is mid-June to mid-September, then the ideal time should be from mid-May through to mid-August.

Then weather conditions need to be taken into the equation: there is no point putting seeds into hot, dry May soil or in cold, wet August earth.

Sowing into trays kept in a sheltered spot in the garden is probably the answer in our tricky climate. The plants can then be put into their final place when they are large enough to handle and the weather is clement.

All conditions met, slugs dealt with, water added, sun shining at the right time – then the crop will be ready to pick from late summer and right through autumn and winter.

Chard is a tough vegetable once it is through the tricky early stages and the earthy flavoured leaves are a good addition to almost any meal.

The stems take a little longer to cook than the foliage especially as the plant matures and are best cooked separately and mixed back in later. It is best not to take too many leaves at a time especially in winter as the plant will struggle to recover.

It’s time to sort all those garden pots

NOVEMBER is a good time to sort out all the pots that are hanging about in the garden.

It is amazing just how many appear after a spring and summer of planting stuffed into corners or in unwieldy piles in the shed or greenhouse.

They can be cleaned and sorted into sizes and shapes: sounds tedious but they really will take up much less room. And how lovely it will be next year to find a clean pot of exactly the right size in seconds.

The other thing I try to do is anticipate how many are likely to be needed and dispose of the rest.

Some nurseries have bins where the excess can be taken. They will then be used by the nursery or be taken by other gardeners for their own use.

Gardening TV and radio

Tomorrow

6.15am, BBC2, Great British Garden Revival. Featuring lawns and tropical gardens.

8am, BBC Radio Humberside, The Great Outdoors. With Blair Jacobs and Doug Stewart.

8.15am, BBC2, Glorious Gardens from Above. Christine Walkden views Sussex from a hot air balloon.

9am, BBC Radio York, Julia Lewis. Gardening news and features from around North Yorkshire.

9am, BBC Radio Leeds, Tim Crowther and Joe Maiden.

2pm, BBC Radio York, Gardeners’ Question Time. The team of horticultural experts answers questions from gardeners in North Wales.

Friday 3pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Panellists Chris Beardshaw, Matthew Biggs and Christine Walkden advise gardeners from Bournemouth. The chairman is Eric Robson.