Thursday, October 23, 2014

Swiss Chard

After some trial and error, I am sold on growing Swiss Chard! It is easy to grow, tasty, and "pretty". There are several different varieties and they may be used in a border garden for their decorative appeal as well as a wonderful, edible green. It has become my summer "spinach."

Ruby Chard - in whiskey barrel planter
At first, I followed several different recipes I found online.  They were all ok. Each was an "acid" base recipe, using either lemon or vinegar...  I had a season's worth of harvesting still to do and my family wasn't "sold" on this new addition to our table.  

It occurred to me that most people describe the taste similar to either spinach or asparagus.  With these vegetables, it occurred to me that I like both sauteed with butter...sweeter. Voila!  Success for our household.  

Suggestion 1: "Spinach"
I cut the main stems out and (gasp) discard - compost
I then chop and briefly saute the leaf portions as I would fresh spinach.  I use real, salted butter.  As with spinach, you need quite a lot of fresh product as it cooks down a lot. Salt/Pepper to taste.
This is the main reason I grow chard - to have "spinach" all summer in this way. I also cook it this way if the chard has "gotten away from me" and I have a lot of it.  I have used it in quiche, scrambled eggs, soup, and plain as a side.

Suggestion 2: Chard-whole
The stem portions need to be cooked longer than the leaf portions:
Remove the main stems making a pile of stems, and one of leaf portions.
Chop stems finely.  Chop leaves roughly.
Saute the stems first until softened (in your flavor of choice: olive oil, butter, whatever), then add in the leaf portion and saute until wilted/cooked. Salt/Pepper to taste.
My Family favorite:
Cook a few pieces of bacon until tender but not crisp, add in 2-3 cloves minced fresh garlic, saute till golden.  Add in chard stems and a little olive oil or butter if dry.  Cover and cook until stem pieces are tender.  Add in leaf portions and continue to stir and cook until wilted.  I sometimes top with grated or shredded Parmesan cheese. 

Suggestion 3:  Use in place of other greens
Pretty much any way you use other greens, you can replace chard for something different: soups, vita-drinks, sweet/sour wilted "spinach" salad, etc.  Basically, if recipe calls for spinach, I use only the leaf portion.  If it calls for kale or other such, use leaf portion and some or all of the stem (be sure to pre-cook stem first).  I love to add some to soup.  It is a beautiful color-I precook it separate first then add it in. 

So, my advice is to start with your favorite way to cook and use spinach and prepare the leaf portion in that way.  Then try it in a few recipes that use spinach.  After that, try it whole. And, by all means, try growing some.  You can even plant it in containers, along your flower bed as a border, or save some space in your vegetable garden for it.  Buy transplants or start from seed.  The key to harvesting is to pick outside, lower leaves and not more than 1/3 of any given plant.  It will continue to grow and produce all season long and may even over-winter.  

Rainbow Chard in raised garden bed - spring
same crop - mid October - still producing

I hope I may have encouraged you to try Chard and perhaps even grow it in your own garden.  If that is the case, I'd love to hear from you.  

Sunday, October 12, 2014

The Fall Garden

It's now officially fall - by the calendar and the weather.  It is my favorite time of year. While not quite sweater weather,it is a wonderful break from the summer heat even though this summer was very mild. 

I have noticed that the garden is much happier with the break in the weather as well.  My pole beans took on a new life and began a whole new crop as well as the bush beans. While I didn't plant a lot of them, I was able to not only continually eat them fresh but put some away in the freezer for some future meals - one bag is specifically marked "Thanksgiving."

Fall plantings: broccoli, lettuce, kale, pole beans still producing

I direct-sowed some lettuce, spinach, and two types of kale seeds.  The lettuce and kale are doing well, the spinach came up then was hit with a couple weeks of heat which I think did them in.  They never grew and I gave up.  I purchased and placed broccoli plants in their place.  I also purchased a pack of brussels sprouts.  The brussels have been in for about a month and are looking good.  I can see teeny sprouts forming at the base of each leaf.  This is my first year with brussels and I am so excited!  I have been battling cabbage worms or as I call them "cabbagepillars" that are trying to eat things before I can.  I have to make a point of checking everything at least every other day.  Those "pillars" can munch a plant beyond recovery in 2 days.  I have already placed the hoops over two of the garden sections.  This is covered in plastic and become my little "greenhouse" when frost and colder weather is predicted--extending the season for some of my crops.  

Brussels sprouts with loaded sweet pepper plants behind
Look closely and you will see several cabbage worms-in all sizes-tricky

I am working on picking the last of everything left on the plants and pulling them up. They then are gathered and thrown into the chicken run for the girls to work over.  Once they are done, there is nothing but bare sticks or stalks that are then composted, burned, or bagged for recycling - depending on what it was.  They love to see me coming with an armload of "goodies."

October 8 harvest:
3-1/2lb beans, 4lb hot peppers, 3-1/4lb sweet peppers, chard, dry beans for seed

I leave my flower seedheads alone for fall.  I do this for a few reasons.  First, I love to watch the goldfinches land and eat the seeds from the coneflowers and black-eyed susans plus there is something about those little brown spikes that is appealing to me...the color? the shape? I'm not quite sure.  Leaving your flowers go to seed also allows for the possibility of reseeding for even more lovely flowers next year.  

Leave the seedheads for the Goldfinches. 

This past summer, I discovered some "volunteers" under the bird feeder.  While I pulled many of them, I left a few that were in a spot that could hold them.  After of a summer of growth, I have a nice little stand of sorghum!  Pleasant surprise.  

Sorghum stand - from sprouted birdseed.

My tomatoes are pretty much finished for the year - we had our last BLT of the year this weekend.  I still have a lot of peppers - both sweet and hot - to pick yet.  That is a good thing since we eat a lot of peppers through the winter.

I still have a lot of garden "to-dos" ahead of me for the fall...