Plant Library

Group/Class:  Cicla Group

Description:

An eye-catching and vigorous variety producing pink and white striped stalks holding up dark green leaves with bright white veins; harvest at any stage; delicious in salads, soups, stews or simply steamed; high bolt resistance; strong disease tolerance

Edible Qualities

Peppermint Swiss Chard is an annual vegetable plant that is commonly grown for its edible qualities, although it does have ornamental merits as well. The entire above-ground parts of the plant are edible, and are usually harvested from late summer to mid fall. The edible parts have a mild taste and a crisp texture.

The plant is most often used in the following ways:

• Fresh Eating
• Eating When Cooked/Prepared
• Cooking
• Baking

Planting & Growing

Peppermint Swiss Chard will grow to be about 18 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 16 inches. When planted in rows, individual plants should be spaced approximately 6 inches apart. This fast-growing vegetable plant is an annual, which means that it will grow for one season in your garden and then die after producing a crop. Because of its relatively short time to maturity, it lends itself to a series of successive plantings each staggered by a week or two; this will prolong the effective harvest period.

This plant is quite ornamental as well as edible, and is as much at home in a landscape or flower garden as it is in a designated vegetable garden. It does best in full sun to partial shade. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Peppermint Swiss Chard is a good choice for the vegetable garden, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. It is often used as a 'filler' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, providing a canvas of foliage against which the larger thriller plants stand out. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.