Contents

Everything about growing Chard With Coco Peat

A little bit more about Chard:

Chard’s stems and leaves, like beets, can be consumed cooked or raw. It has a moderate flavor and can be used to give nutrition and color to salads, spaghetti, pizzas, quiches, sandwiches, and other dishes.

Chard is typically produced as a cool-season crop since it grows swiftly and easily in the milder temps of spring and fall, but it is also quite tolerant of harsher temperatures. Its growth will slow in the summer, but chard’s better heat tolerance makes it a fantastic salad green to cultivate when the others are too hot.

Chard tolerates partial sun but thrives in full sun. It prefers soil that is moderately fertile, well-drained, and has a pH of 6.0 to 7.0 (slightly acidic to neutral). To improve soil fertility, incorporate old manure and/or compost into the soil before planting.

See more:

Coco peat for Spinach: Growing Spinach With Coco Peat
Coco Peat for Tomatoes: A Comprehensive Guide to Effective

Season for Growing Chard

Plant chard seeds in the spring 2 to 3 weeks before the last spring frost date.

Plant chard seeds around 40 days before the first fall frost date for a fall crop. (Many kinds can withstand a mild frost.)

To accelerate germination, soak seeds in water for 24 hours before planting.

Recommended Variety of Chard to Grow

Bright Lights: Bolt-resistant but not frost-hardy with dark green foliage on multicolored stems.
Fordhook Giant: Plants with dark green leaves and white stalks are compact.
Lucullus: Heat-tolerant with green foliage and white stalks.
Peppermint: Bolt-resistant plant with green foliage and pink-and-white striped stalks.
Rainbow: Leaves and stems in red, pink, white, yellow, orange, and striped patterns.
Rhubarb: Dark green foliage with deep red stalks; seed after frost risk has passed or it may bolt.
Ruby Red: Green leaves, bright-red stems; sow after risk of frost has passed or it may bolt.

Steps for the Growing of Chard

Apply 5-10-10 fertilizer to the area when you’re ready to plant.
Seeds should be planted 1.5 to 2.5cm deep, 5 to 15 cm apart, in rows 45 cm apart.
For a month, plant seeds at 10-day intervals.
Thin plants to 4 to 6 inches apart when they are 3 to 4 inches tall, or 6 to 12 inches if they are enormous.
To avoid damaging surrounding plant roots, use scissors. The cuttings are edible.
Chard grows well without fertilizer, but if your plants are staying too small, consider administering a balanced fertilizer halfway through the season.
Water evenly and consistently to encourage growth. During summer dry spells, water plants frequently.
Mulch the plants to help retain moisture and keep weeds at bay.
When the plants are approximately 30 cm tall, cut the leaves back to 12 to 15 cm to foster fresh tender growth. Chard plants become less tasty when they become overgrown, which cuts back on what you can and want to eat.

Coco Peat as a Growing Medium

Coco Peat (coco coir) pH is around neutral, which is no need for adjustment in that aspect. But while the medium itself is plentiful in terms of organic matter, that’s only half the requirement- the other half is nutrients.

Yes, coco peat is naturally resistant to pests and diseases, but after being washed thoroughly (and other processes), they are usually left very bland, no leftover fungi or potential threats, but also no nutrition. If you have homemade compost or anything of the same sort, mix them with coco peat (preferably 70 or 60 peat, we have another article on how to use compost with coco peat). Fertilizer is standard procedure, if you already know your way around them, jobs are much easier to handle.

The Harvesting Phase of the Growing of Chard

Harvest when the plants are 15 to 20 cm tall, depending on the size of the leaves desired.

With a sharp knife, cut off the outer leaves 1.5/2.5 cm above the ground. Try not to damage the plant’s center. Consume what you cut.

Harvest on a regular basis, and the plants will continue to produce. Harvest using the “cut-and-come-again” method, taking the largest, oldest leaves and leaving the younger ones to grow.

Lift the plant with its roots in the soil and transfer it to a container in a greenhouse to lengthen the harvest. Keep the temperature around 10°C. The chard will appear limp at first, but it will recover.

The Storing of Harvested Chard

Rinse Swiss chard leaves and store them in vented plastic bags in the refrigerator.

To separate the leaves, run a sharp knife down the ribs.

The leaves are consumed as greens. They can be cooked like spinach or eaten raw.

The ribs can be cooked in the same way that asparagus is (steamed, roasted, sautéed).

Endnote

Coco peat is an organic-based growing medium with excellent aeration, drainage, and water retention, which fitted nicely to the growing of Chard with by adding additives to the coco peat, or mix the peat with available soil to incorporate their upsides into current native soil. At this moment, congratulations on making it this far. Here at Coco Coir Global, we have coco peat products that ship all over the world, one of which is our most popular, the best-selling Coco Coir Bag, which comes in ready-to-use form and is easy to transfer in large quantities- or if that isn’t what you’re looking for, take a look around our website, perhaps we can help.

Good luck growing!