My Polyculture for August: Lettuces: Red Sail, Buttercrunch, Iceberg, Valmaine Carrots: Parisienne, Rainbow Blend Marigold: Tagetes signata Herbs: Basil, Chamomile, Loveage, Sweet Marjoram Broccoli: Sprouting, green Beet: Chioggia Asian Greens: Pac Choi, Ching Chang Bok Choy Cabbage: Earliana Radish: French Breakfast Spinach: Bloomsdale Chives / Green Onion I also planted a new bed of Egyptian Walking Onion I was thinking for my region which is very Mediterranean at the moment I could also add Arugula, Kholrabi, Kale, Chard aka Silverbeet, Cilantro, Chervil, & Mache
If you are going to plant chard, it is fun to plant the coloured versions, to wit orange, red, yellow, green, pink and white. You don't need to plant a lot and it is very easy to grow. I have one of each colour. Just missing yellow at the moment.
They are quite beautiful, especially if when cutting, you ensure that the stalks are visible. Another stunning chard is Ruby Red. Can be found on Ebay for a couple of dollars. Gorgeous ruby red stalks and veins through the leaves.
Just to clarify something, what is often sold as "Rainbow Chard" or "Bright Lights" is a mix of coloured varieties. It is not a particular variety of chard.
An interesting Youtube video about Bright Lights and Ruby Red Chard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oKT3p0GU68
Click on the thumbnail below to see a few "Bright Lights". Note that I purposely planted these closer together (3 inches apart) than is recommended for a couple of reasons. 1) I dont need too much chard, with only 2 people. 2) This is an unused small spot against the garage I wanted to fill up. It's growing well, even though I have cut a lot and it is winter. Chard is a very adaptable plant. I use it mainly in place of lettuce. Bright lights have a very mild taste. PS: Thanks to both 9anda1f & S.O.P for advice concerning Imgur.
Speaking of Chard, I found this.... "How I Grew 10x Larger Swiss Chard than I Have Ever Seen " https://youtu.be/Y4fC_eesxhc
what a nice list of plants Pakanohida, I am envious, I don't have enough space to plant that whole list, Yet! We are still waiting to pull up the summer garden, have to wait till Sept. to start planting our fall/winter garden, but a lot of the plants you're using will be in ours too.
Don't forget Chard is bi annual, at least here in southern california, so make sure you plant it an fairly permanent spot. Here you can have chard all year long!
Interesting article about the nutritional value of greens. Chard rates well in third spot. Kale is often touted as the best of the best when it comes to superfood. But it seems there are more than a dozen other vegetables that pack more nutritional punch than the favourite green of hipsters and health food bloggers. Shades of green Don't despair if watercress isn't your thing. There are a bunch of other high scoring powerhouse vegetables to choose from, the top 15 include: watercress Chinese cabbage chard beet greens spinach chicory leaf lettuce parsley romaine lettuce collard green turnip green mustard green endive chive kale. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-1...rcress/6659222
Romain lettuce is what we used to feed salt water fish in aquariums some 20 years ago because it had the most nutrients of any leafy green.... that and a lot of salt water fish go nuts for it.