How to grow chard

Chard, or Swiss chard, is an attractive leafy vegetable, with stalks in an array of bright colours. It’s similar to spinach, but easier to grow as it’s less likely to go to seed in dry weather and one sowing gives you harvests over many months.

There are several varieties of chard, varying in colour rather than flavour, so choosing which to grow is primarily a visual pleasure. It’s the thick leaf stems, mid-ribs and veins that provide most of the colour, although the green leaves may also be blushed with red. Stem colours are mainly hot shades of ruby, crimson, pink, orange or yellow, or cool pure white. The best-known variety, ‘Bright Lights’, offers a mix of eye-catching hues, while other varieties are a single uniform colour. 

White-stemmed varieties tend to be hardiest, so are a good choice in colder locations, although all chard is hardy. 

Varieties with an RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM) should grow and crop reliably, having performed well in RHS trials – see our list of AGM fruit and veg.

Chard grows best in an open, sunny site, although it can tolerate some shade in summer. It prefers rich, moisture-retentive, free-draining soil.

Add organic matter, such as home-made garden compost, to improve drainage and enrich the soil, ideally in autumn or winter prior to sowing.

Just before you sow, weed the ground thoroughly. Then rake in a high potassium general fertiliser, such as Vitax Q4, at a rate of two handfuls per square metre/yard.

Chard seeds are large and easy to sow. They are usually sown straight into the ground, from early spring to mid-summer, but can also be sown in modules indoors to produce an early crop.

Chard needs little maintenance, apart from watering in dry spells and weeding, especially when plants are young. Protect in winter to keep plants in good condition.

Individual plants can provide pickings for several months, and if you sow in spring and again in mid-summer, you should have harvests for most of the year. Protect plants with cloches over winter – in mild spells they may produce a few leaves, but will mainly provide valuable early harvests the following spring. 

Chard gives repeated or cut-and-come-again harvests. Regular picking encourages more leaves to form. You can either take just a few leaves from each plant or, with an established plant, cut all the leaves in one go:

• When taking a few leaves from each plant along the row, wait until they’re at least 5cm (2in) tall, then pick the outer leaves first, when still young and tender, working towards the centre. Keep several central leaves in place to grow and provide the next harvest few weeks later. Take regular light pickings whenever plants have plenty of leaves. 

• You can take all the leaves from more established plants (at least 10cm/4in tall) if you prefer, as they have a sturdy root that will resprout a new set of replacement leaves. Allow longer between pickings with this method, and cut the leaves at least 5cm (2in) above the base to ensure regrowth. Plants should provide several harvests across the season.

Young leaves can be used raw in salads, while larger leaves can be steamed like spinach or added to stir-fries. The stems and mid-ribs need to be cooked for slightly longer, so are best removed and cooked first.

For salads, harvest baby leaves up to about 5cm (2in) long, and preferably eat them the same day, as they don’t keep well in the fridge.

Raw or cooked leaves can also be frozen for later use in various dishes.

Once established, chard is a robust and reliable crop that suffers few pests and diseases. You may need to protect seedlings from slugs and snails, especially in damp weather, and from birds using fleece. Leaf miners can cause cosmetic damage to foliage, but affected leaves can just be removed. In damp weather or overcrowded conditions, fungal diseases such as downy mildew and grey mould may affect the leaves.