Swiss chard

This organic variety, Fireworks, yields a bountiful harvest of brightly coloured Swiss chard. This will make any meal both delicious and beautiful! Thin out the crop as you go and thereafter either harvest the outermost leaves one by one or cut the entire plant two to three centimetres off the ground. New leaves sprout continuously and can be harvested throughout the autumn. Swiss chard is often grown as a one-year crop, but is actually considered a two-year crop. Earth up around the plants for safer hibernation, which in turn results in an earlier harvest prior to the plant entering the blooming stage during year two. The ideal soil for growing Swiss chard is humus, nutrient-rich and well-drained.

Do not sow until the temperature of the soil has risen a fair bit. Sowing too early will result in plants which enter the blooming stage in year one. Water in the seed furrow and keep moist until the seeds have sprouted.