GARDENING: THE GREENS THAT YOU MUST GROW
In the monthly planting guide (published on the first Sunday of each month) Swiss chard/leaf beet are often mentioned. As these are not commonly cultivated vegetables here, many of you have requested full details about these extremely nutritious, versatile and hardy plants. So this week’s column is dedicated to the greens that you really must grow.
First and foremost, the name: The reason for listing it as Swiss chard/leaf beet is that, depending on where seeds are sourced, it may be sold as either, but there is a slight difference between the two.
Both are sub-species of the botanical family Beta vulgaris and are grown and used in exactly the same way. They may also be sold as perennial spinach, sea beet, seakale beet, silver beet or beet spinach. Except Swiss chard, these are just about impossible to tell apart.
Swiss chard and leaf beet are close cousins, packed with nutrition and easy to grow
Those sold with the word ‘beet’ in their name are generally green in colour with a fine network of creamy coloured veins in the leaves and with noticeable — not overly thick — stems.
Swiss chard —with one exception — also has green leaves which are distinctly veined in bright red, dark crimson, cream, pale or brilliant yellow, dazzling orange or fluorescent pink and both the main stems and mid-ribs are of a matching colour. Huge, wide, fleshy and juicy, they can be served cooked or raw in their own right. The one leaf colour exception is yet another sub-species with reddish leaves that turn dark purple in chilly temperatures or with age.
Swiss chard, the gorgeously-coloured ones, are perfectly at home in flower gardens, pots/containers — these need to be at least 10 inches in diameter and 10 inches deep — as well as in the vegetable/herb garden itself.
I have personally been growing both Swiss chard and leaf beet for at least 30 years. In Karachi, the seed can be sown and leaves harvested all year round although, as they are sun-loving plants, they perform best in partial shade over the blisteringly hot summer months. Individual plants can, providing soil/water is suitable, grow to a height of 18-24 inches with a width of at least the same distance. The plants must have free air flow around them from late spring to mid autumn otherwise they can be affected by mildew. Unlike most other leafy green vegetables, both Swiss chard and leaf beet plants can keep on growing and producing succulent leaves for up to two years before they decide to send up an astonishingly tall flower stem which, eventually, bears seeds. The plant will then self-seed happily and you will have a garden full of scrumptious food.