Wet Winter Veggies
It is just so dark and gloomy out there at the moment, it was a pleasure to see my Ruby Chard making an effort to show some beautiful colour. These were planted back in June from seeds which I purchased in Warsaw, Poland. They really love their hardy Winter veggies over there!
Despite the gloomy weather the colours are wonderful. This time of year spinach and chard do not look very impressive and it might be tempting to pull them up and throw them away.. but please don't! They will start to grow again in Spring and you will have a great harvest right up till early Summer (isn't it great to look forward to gardening pleasures next year?) 
I've not grown this variety before, I look forward to picking some in the Spring. Normally I grow Swiss Chard Bright Lights or Rainbow Lights for spectacular colour.
I took a peek inside the greenhouse as well today. Inside a heated seed propagator and under several layers of fleece are my pineapples from the Azores. They rooted well this Summer and I am trying to keep them alive over Winter to see what I can do with them next year. The secret is to keep them as warm and as dry as possible over Winter. Start feeding and watering when it gets warmer next year.
Just to give you an idea of the awful conditions in the garden at the moment. Everything is under at least 8" of water - only some of the raised beds are poking out.
Perhaps I should start growing rice!!
Oh well, out with the wellies!
posted by Matron @ 3:55 PM
10 Comments:
Blimey, that's a lot of water - Venice is only a bit more flooded than you are! Lovely looking chard, but can I make a confession? I'm not a great fan of chard ... (don't throw things at me) or spinach: I find them a bit earthy tasting. Any ideas on how I can cook them so I like them better because I know they are good for me. Weirdly enough, I love kale ...
I used to hate spinach as a child but it grew on me. You can use a spinach puree as one of the ingredients for a curry! Find a recipe for lamb karai - puree up all the fresh ingredients and cook the curry in that! You won't know it is spinach but it makes a fab sauce.
That is a lot of water.
What do you make with the chard? I have seen it grown by a few people but I have never tried it or knew what to do with it.
Dan, I use it in exactly the same way as spinach. I find it hardier and less temperamental than some spinach.
My goodness, your chard is lovely. I found some that had re-seeded itself from seeds planted about this time last year. Too bad I don't care for the cooked stuff.
And water, water everywhere! Rice might be a good idea. We're having rain in So. California, and we're so desperately dry, nobody is complaining - yet.
Matron, I think it's high time you gave your plants some swimming lessons. ;-) My red chard is doing well here too and so is the yellow one. They cheer up an otherwise not so colourful winter potager.
I really like the look of your chard. All of my cold weather growing is done indoors. What kind of temperatures have you had while growing it?
Scott - during the Summer here it can get up to 80 or 90 degrees very occasionally. Most time it is between 60 and 70. For the last few months it has been around freezing, but the chard will really start to grow again in the Spring.
Enjoyed a bit of armchair gardening looking at your allotment. That chard is really beautiful - wish I had some here. Sorry about the water - it is so disheartening when the garden floods. Interesting about the pineapples. In my last house I had a heated bed in the greenhouse just made with a cable under sand in a trough - it was marvellous for overwintering things like that.
Flippin' heck Matron, thats what I call a bog garden! Here the soil is wet and sticky but nothing like it is with you. My Pineapple is still alive, I have it in the warm greenhouse. Just out of interest, you know the Tomato plants that I showed on my blog? Well the fruit is just starting to ripen, the only thing is they are on the small side, about half the size of what you would get them to grow in summer. Best wishes, Bob.
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