Monty Don gardening tips: Lovely to look at, easy to grow, chard is hard to fault

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F or decades I have been growing chard with very little trouble and have always relished it, both in the garden as a resplendently energetic plant in all its various hues and on the plate in a surprisingly varied number of recipes.

The British have not taken to chard with the same enthusiasm as the French for some reason, but it is delicious and nutritious, can be cooked in lots of different ways, is easy to grow and is a leafy green vegetable that can be harvested throughout the year. It really is hard to fault it.

Admittedly, last year I did have some trouble with my chard, finding it was very quick to bolt before it had developed a decent leaf or root system. But I put that down to the low light levels, and this year it has grown easily and well. 

Lovely to look at, easy to grow, delicious hot or cold and good for you too – chard is hard to fault, says Monty Don

The seeds can be sown at any time between March and July – my favoured method is to use plugs and then either plant them directly into the soil or pot them on into 8cm (3in) pots before planting out approximately 22cm-30cm (9in-12in) apart.

ASK MONTY…

Q. We have a large magnolia tree that obliterates our view of the garden. When should we prune it?
Ivor Nash, Ticehurst, East Sussex

A. If it is a deciduous magnolia, the best time is in midsummer, after flowering. But the evergreen M. grandiflora should be pruned only sparingly, if at all.

Q. After lifting my potato crop, I see some are already gnawed. I’ve had a few molehills, so could moles have done it?
Peter Wilkins, Bugbrooke, Northants

A. I very much doubt it was moles eating your potatoes, Peter – they much prefer earthworms. But voles are known to like a good spud.

Q. A hydrangea and bay have grown too large for our London garden, and I’d like to transfer them to our cottage garden in Norfolk. When would be the best time to do this, and should they be pruned back?
Patricia Sears, Chiswick, London

A. For the hydrangea the best time would be between now and March. For the bay, autumn or spring. Dig up as much root as possible and move in the largest pots you can. Depending on the root size, trim the bay back by as much as half. Leave pruning the hydrangea till spring, and remove a third of its growth.

However, the seeds can be sown directly into the soil as long as you thin them out ruthlessly so that each plant has the space to develop really generous roots.

Chard is very drought-resistant when established, although the hotter and drier the weather, the greater the ratio of stalk to green leaf. In general it is best to plant them into rich, well-drained soil and keep the water supply steady, as erratic watering will stress them and induce bolting. The idea is to grow the plants steadily so they go into winter with a strong root that will then keep producing new foliage right through to the following spring.

You can either harvest the leaves by taking a few in turn from each plant as you go or, as I prefer to do, cut the whole thing flush with the ground, which provokes a fresh crop of tender young leaves to come through.

It is a tough plant and will take drought in summer and as much cold as we are likely to get. Its powers of recovery are extraordinary. I reckon to take at least three good harvests from each plant, and even when it is reduced to a semi- rotted stump, it will still throw up more crinkled green flames of leaf to give a spring crop when there is little else growing.

Chard, as a member of the beet family, is related to spinach and beetroot, and the leaves do look like monstrously enlarged versions of both their cousins.

They are invariably cooked having been stripped from the stems and are like a slightly coarser, more robust spinach, going well with any meats, eggs or cheese. The stems are celery-like in texture with a delicate, subtle taste.

Swiss chard, which has pure white stems and great green leaves, is superior in taste to all other variations, but ruby chard is beautiful enough for any flower border. ‘Rainbow’ chard is, as the name suggests, multi-coloured, and ‘Bright Lights’ has brilliant yellow stems. ‘Vulcan’ is a new variety designed for eating raw in salad. All are very good to eat.

Swiss chard has nothing to do with Switzerland but it is the name it has gone by for the past 100 years or so. The ancient Greeks grew red chard, the Chinese record growing it in the 7th century, and what we now call Swiss chard is recorded growing in Britain as early as 1596. 

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