praise of rainbow chard

9 reasons why I love rainbow chard

it is highly attractive – I just love the colours.

it is easy to grow – see “how to grow chard”

one or two rows of chard feed a lot of people – admittedly there is sometimes too much of it. if you do not like eating it more than once a week 12 plants are enough for a 5 people household

shiny, brightly coloured plants grow vigorously and show of your gardening skills – grow in view of your neighbours for this reason

it is easy to harvest

it is easy to wash – as chard grows a lot higher than spinach, there is a lot less sand involved.

stems can be prepared like asparagus – cut into sticks, and boil in salt water al dente

the green part of the leaves can be prepared like spinach

tasty, yummy, delicious

harvesting colours

late summer is doing more summer than summer. loving it. good haul today with rainbow chard and flowers, beans, courgette, tomatoes and some herbs.

rainbow chard"bright lights" and flowers

I can not believe the bean season is almost over. I did not have enough yet. the green ones are scarlet runner beans. some people grow them on their fences as screens and don´t bother eating the beans. strange because they are even sweeter than the normal runner beans. the purple variety we got from an organic seed catalog. reliable, hardy, good taste, steady crop. pity they lose their purple colour when cooked.

september harvest

growing tomatoes in our unpredictable climate outdoors is a challenge most years. the rainy summer had them suffering heavily from blight. we always grow 5 or more varieties. some deal better with cold, some are excellent when there is a lot of sun and do not mind if it gets a bit dryer. with a mix of different varieties we usually get a good crop no matter what the weather is like. the yellow ones are called “schönhagener frühe”. me an my friend were a bit surprised because we remembered them to be red… won´t complain though. tasty and as the name suggests very early.