Aromatic alternative with dark-green leaves and carmine red stems
Useful information: Rhubarb is a high-yielding Swiss chard variety with dark-green, slightly crinkled leaves with carmine red stems and veins. The stems can be prepared on its own by cooking in saltwater and refining - like asparagus - with butter or béchamel sauce. For preparing Swiss chard spinach you may remove the stems and cook the chopped leaves in oil covered by a lid. The spinach becomes more hearty if you add a couple of slightly fried onion pieces. You may also use the Swiss chard in whole to prepare as a delicious vegetable. Since the stems will take somewhat longer for cooking than the leaves, you should chop them into pieces together with some onion and initially simmer them briefly. The leaves are to be added later on. Tomatoes, peppers or white mushrooms go very well together with Swiss chard. In Yugoslavia, chard vegetable is mixed with crushed potatoes and lots of garlic. For that, you simmer the chopped stems in olive oil, add a layer of thinly sliced potatoes on top and let it stew for about 15 minutes. After that, you add chopped garlic and the cut Swiss chard leaves and let it simmer more, until the potatoes are soft to eat. Large leaves of Swiss chard can also be used for roulades. Swiss chard can be preserved and stored well, after it is blanched.
Natural location: Swiss chard has already been cultivated by the ancient Greeks.
Successful cultivation: You can start cultivation from January until March in a wind-sheltered cold frame with a fleece cover for frosty nights, or in pot on your windowsill. Plant three seeds per planting hole about 1 cm deep into coconut substrate or organic vegetable substrate. After germination, you can prick the seedlings out leaving only the strongest one. It will take about four to six weeks after seeding until the seedlings have properly developed. A temperature between 15° and 20° Celsius would be ideal for germination. Starting from the end of May, when there are no frosty nights ahead anymore, and as soon as the seedlings have developed a proper rooting, they can be planted out in the open. Provide some underlining/padding with compost and place the seedlings deep enough into the soil so that the roots are covered with about 1 cm of earth. Leave about 40 to 50 cm space between the plants.
The best location: The plant has high nutrient demand and grows best at a sunny place of the vegetable patch and in well-grounded, nutritious soil with a good water storage capacity.
Optimal care: The plant requires watering and nutrition regularly. Water generously, especially on hot days, but avoid water-logging. Weeding and loosening the surrounding soil from time to time will be rewarded by the plant producing a better harvest and flavour. After planting out, you may regularly provide your Broccoli with organic vegetable fertilizer until about two to three weeks before harvesting.
In the winter: The plant should be re-seeded every year.