Swiss Chard from Mary’s Heirloom Seeds
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I received free seeds to review, however, all opinions are my own.
Earlier this year Mary, from Mary’s Heirloom Seeds (#ad), sent me a nice selection of her heirloom seeds to try in my garden and review. I was thrilled when the package arrived in the mail! How time flies…it seems like I just planted my garden and here it is, the middle of July and the plants are going gangbusters.
Read my review of Pink Oxheart tomatoes and Royalty Purple Podded Beans!
Swiss Chard is My Favorite Green
I love Swiss Chard. It’s one of my favorite greens and it’s super easy to grow. I plant a row with at least two varieties every year. So I knew that the package of 5 Color Silver Beet Swiss Chard would be a welcome addition to my garden.
I planted the garden a tad on the late side this spring, due to the weird weather we were having. But those Swiss chard seedlings lost no time getting growing. I now have a half row of the 5 Color variety from Mary’s Heirloom Seeds and another half row of Lucullus, my old standby. And I have the chance to compare these two varieties and tell you, dear readers, which is my favorite. 🙂
Hands Down Winner!
There’s really no contest here…the 5 Color Silver Beet Swiss Chard is definitely my favorite variety. I am having a huge problem with earwigs chewing giant holes in the Lucullus Swiss chard, but not the 5 Color Silver Beet. I suspect that the heavily savoyed leaves of the Lucullus give them more hiding places. I also love the variety of colors in the half row of Silver Beet…they are so vibrant and beautiful! They cook up wonderfully tender and still quite colorful.
Saving Seed
This variety of Swiss chard has piqued by interest in saving seed for the future. Okay, if you know me at all, that didn’t take much of a push. 🙂 Swiss Chard is a biennial, so I’ll have to overwinter some and save the seed next year. I want to be sure to save the plants with the best colors, growth habit, and staying power. So over the summer I will be watching to see which plants are seed worthy.
Cooking Swiss Chard
I used some of the Silver beet Swiss chard on the 4th of July when we cooked pioneer style in our Dutch oven. It was super yummy with the potatoes and onions. I’d like to do this again when we have a nice cool day for a campfire. Fortunately Swiss Chard is easy to steam or boil on the stove top too.
I like to wash, chop, and add the chard to my stir fry pan with about an inch of water in the bottom. Slice up a small onion, add beet greens if you wish, maybe a pat of raw butter, then bring to a boil over medium heat, reduce to a simmer and let cook until chard ‘ribs’ are tender. It doesn’t take long, maybe 10 to 15 minutes. Add a little salt and pepper, or drizzle a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the greens and you have a really superb vegetable as a side dish to your main meal. If there are any leftovers, drain the juice and use the greens in an omelet the next morning, yum!
Hi! What a great post! I am VERY new to gardening and plan to start this adventure once we move back to Arizona in a few weeks. I had no idea that 5 Color Silver Beet Swiss Chard even existed until this post! I also want to thank you for sharing Mary’s Heirloom Seeds website as I love what she has to offer and look forward to ordering some seeds from her.
Thanks!
Christina
Thanks Christina! Swiss chard is super easy to grow and will make a good learning crop 🙂 You’ll love Mary’s Heirloom Seeds…she is a real person and fills the orders herself! The packets contain a nice amount of seeds, so you get your money’s worth! Best wishes with the move!
I love Swiss chard! I am attempting to be known as the Swiss chard girl at the Farmers’ Markets that we attend. Have not tried 5 color silver but love ruby red, fordhook, large green ribbed, and bright lights. I’ll have to get some of the 5 color silver beet.
I plan to keep growing chard in our glass greenhouse over the winter 🙂
I’ve had more slugs eating my chard this year than anything else which neem oil and Diatomaceous earth help with but lately there’s been a different ‘worm’ and also a leaf rust spot to deal with…sigh.
Love the photos and the recipe sounds good – especially the dutch oven over a fire part!
Cheers!
I’d love to hear how your Swiss chard does in the greenhouse! Sorry to hear about the pests…they always want what we’re growing 🙁 The Swiss chard with potatoes and onions was sooooo good. I can’t wait to make it again.
Lisa, it does very well in the (unheated) glass greenhouse! This spring there was still some neglected Swiss chard in there that had gotten huge and was starting to go to seed. I can imagine it will do great if I do not neglect it!
Hi Hope Farms,
I’m hoping to get a cold frame set up around my Swiss chard pretty soon so I can try keeping it through the winter 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing your experience with us!