Swiss Chard Bright Lights is a striking looking plant with stems that vary in colour from red, pink, white, violet and golden yellow.
It looks fantastic in the garden or containers and on your dinner plate. I saw it at RHS Wisley where they had planted up a raised brick wall around their coffee shop with rainbow chard. It looked stunning and very appropriate.
It is a close relation to the beetroot family but is grown for its leaves rather than beetroot which is grown for its edible roots.
The colourful leaves & stems can be picked whilst young and used raw in salads or left to grow on and used in stir-fries o sauteed in butter (and it keeps it's colour when cooked!).
Swiss Chard Bright Lights Vegetable Seed Information
Seed Quantity:
Approx 50 seeds per pack.
Site:
Any, but does best if rich in organic matter.
When to Sow
March to August, but best in March or July/August.
How to Sow:
Either indoors in modules/small pots with 1-2 seeds per unit and remove the weaker seedlings. Transplant out when large enough in spring spacing 15-25cm apart. Or direct sow thinly once the soil has warmed up in April-July into drills 2.5cm deep by 30cm.
Care:
They must be kept watered in summer to prevent bolting, but if some do start to bolt just cut down the middle stem and give them a good water. Keep picking leaves to encourage new ones, and during winter take off old ones before they begin to rot & affect other leaves. Chard is not hardy but is tough enough to survive most winters, just cut off any mushy leaves and it will begin to re-grow when the weather warms up.
Harvest:
10 weeks after sowing, so March ones will be ready late May onwards & August sowings will be October onwards. It is a biennial so will last 2 seasons.