Swiss Chard : Lucullus

Vegetable

• Crops in : 60 Days
• Height : 15 inches - 20 inches

Description

A much more prolific form, Swiss Chard Lucullus produces an abundance of large, tasty leaves and wide, white mid-ribs. Cook the succulent mid-rib like asparagus and serve with melted butter. Easier, and some consider tastier, than spinach. If the plants of Swiss Chard Lucullus are left to flower, the flower stalks can be cooked and eaten like sprouting broccoli.

Cropping from mid-summer to late autumn. After a normal winter, it will re-emerge to give an unbelievably early spring crop.

Sowing Instructions

Sow seeds in spring for a summer/autumn crop, mid to late summer for an autumn/spring crop. Sow seeds very thinly in ordinary garden soil in drills 3cm (1in) deep in rows 30cm (12in) apart.

Growing Instructions

As the seedlings grow, gradually thin out to 22cm (9in) apart. The thinnings can be trimmed of their roots and cooked.

Aftercare

Water freely through the season and harvest by picking a few leaves, snapping them off near the base of the plant, from several plants rather than completely stripping one.