Swiss chard

[richard p]

a couple in the polytunnel planted bout october will give start giving fresh leaves in feb/march

[bigpepperplant]

i planted some rainbow chard in the polytunnel last summer and it's still going great guns, now putting out lots of new leaves - looks lovely, but agree that the white stuff seems to taste a bit better than the prettier coloured varieties. I also got a major bright green caterpillar infestation late summer - pulling them off by hand just wasn't working so in the end I cut loads of leaves out for the compost heap.

Quick question: the seed I sowed were Rainbow Chard Bright Lights and one plant in particular has stunning almost luminescent deep pink stems. I'd like to try to save seed from it, but would the seeds come back the same lovely colour?

thanks in advance

[Carole B.]

I usually plant some summer sown ones in the bed with the purple sprouting which gives me some nice leaves about now and when you get them to the kitchen soak them in a bowl of lightly salted water for 10 mins which should make any nasties drop off.