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Vegetables · biennial grown as an annual
Swiss chard from seed
Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris
- Germination temperature
- 65 to 85°F (18 to 29°C)
- Minimum soil temperature
- 40°F (4°C)
- Sowing depth
- 1 in (25 mm)
- Days to germinate
- 7 to 14 days
- Light
- Cover the seed; darkness helps
- Before sowing
- Nothing needed
- Sow outdoors
- 2 weeks before to 2 weeks after the last frost
- Spacing
- 7 to 9 in (18 to 23 cm)
Your dates from your last frost Seed not coming up?
Sowing
Sow direct from a couple of weeks before the last frost until midsummer. Like beet, each seed is a cluster, so thin.
Care and transplanting
Harvest outer leaves and the plant keeps producing. It tolerates both light frost and summer heat better than spinach.
Problems
Leaf miners leave pale tunnels; remove affected leaves. Bolting is uncommon in the first year.
Saving seed
Chard flowers in its second year and crosses with beet. Collect seed once the stalks are dry.