Whether you garden in the ground, in raised beds, on the windowsill, or anywhere else, chard is a great addition or re-addition to your plant family. Read on for simple, straightforward specifics about growing chard.
Jump to:
Family | Container Size | Good Companions | Bad Companions | Soil Conditions | Germination | Sun | Water | Temperature Range | Height | Lifespan | Reproduction | Yield Per Plant | Ingestibility | Further Reading
What Family Does Chard Belong To?
Chard (Beta vulgaris) belongs to the Amaranthaceae family, also known as the amaranth family.
Some of its relatives include beets, spinach, and amaranth.
Chard is actually of the same species as beets, just a different variety with much smaller roots.
What Size Container Should I Use for Growing Chard?
The minimum container depth recommended for chard is 8 inches.
Read more in our Choosing the Right Planter for Your Container Garden article here.
What Are Good Companion Plants for Chard?
Some of chard's best companions are as follows:
- Tomato, particularly when chard is grown in the shade of the tomato plant(s)
- Broccoli, cauliflower, and other Brassicas
- Lettuce
- Peppers like bell pepper and jalapeño, particularly when chard is grown in the shade of the pepper plant(s)
- Rose
- Fennel
- Watercress
- Bush beans like bush types of green beans, either concurrently or successively. Beans and chard have opposite nutritional needs, so they are unlikely to deplete the soil. See the green beans article for more information about growing beans and chard together.
- Celery
- Spinach
- Orach
- Radish
- Carrot
- Onion
- Chives
- Garlic
- Wild ginger
What Are Bad Companion Plants for Chard?
Chard is not compatible with every plant. Some things to avoid planting with chard are as follows:
- Potato
- Corn
- Cucumber
- Melons
- Pole beans, which compete with chard for space and, to a lesser extent, light
- Gaillardia
- Toothache plant
What Soil Conditions Does Chard Need?
Chard prefers rich, well-draining soil with a pH between 6.0 and 6.5.
How Long Does Chard Take to Germinate?
Chard takes 5-20 days to germinate at a temperature of 40-80°F.
How Much Sun Does Chard Need?
Chard does best with part shade to full shade, meaning 2-5 hours of sun per day.
Chard has an unusually high shade preference for an edible plant. This makes it an excellent choice for a shady spot of the garden, a woodland garden, or a north-facing patio.
How Much Water Does Chard Need?
Chard needs 1 inch of water per week.
What Is the Ideal Temperature Range for Growing Chard?
Chard grows fastest in temperatures of 55-70°F.
This is its ideal temperature range. Although it will grow in temperatures both cooler and warmer than this range, the growth could be slower or even stunted.
Minimum and maximum temperatures will vary by variety.
Chard can survive temperatures down to 15°F. I have had chard not only survive but actually grow throughout my Hardiness Zone 8, low-light winter, albeit more slowly than the rest of the year.
But most chard varieties do not tolerate heat as well as they tolerate cold. They are quick to bolt in temperatures above 80°F, especially in a sudden temperature increase like a spring heatwave.
Preventative measures like moving the plant to a cooler, shadier, or north-facing area; covering it; or encouraging taller plants to provide more shade can help it to survive summer in warmer areas.
Some chard varieties such as perpetual spinach (a chard, despite the name) are specifically bred to be more heat-tolerant, so seeking these varieties is another option for warm to hot regions.
How Tall Does Chard Get?
The average height of chard is 6-12 inches.
Is Chard Annual, Biennial, or Perennial?
Chard is a biennial vegetable, meaning that its life cycle spans 2 years, and it bolts, produces seed, and dies in its second year.
How Does Chard Reproduce?
Chard reproduces by seed in its second year.
How Much Chard is Produced Per Plant?
For chard, how much is produced per plant (also called the yield) largely depends on the variety. It also depends on growing conditions, which can affect the speed of growth, and climate, which can affect the length of its growing season(s).
Chard continues producing leaves throughout its lifespan. So if you keep harvesting its leaves, they will keep regrowing until the plant goes to seed.
In optimal conditions, leaves regrow within 1-2 weeks of the previous harvest.
Can Chard Be Ingested?
Chard leaves and stalks are edible.
Although highly nutritious, chard does not have any known uses in herbal preparations.
Like its relative, spinach, chard contains oxalic acid. Those who are sensitive to oxalates and oxalic acid may want to avoid or limit their intake of chard. Oxalates are significantly reduced by cooking.
There are no other known safety concerns associated with ingesting chard.
Further Reading
This article is intended as a quick-reference guide for gardeners. Consult your seed packet or seed catalog for variety-specific information.
When you have a bumper crop of chard rolling in, you may not have enough time for long, complicated recipes or many-step preservation procedures. Check out my article on quick, simple uses for chard here!
Chard is featured in these Plant to Plate articles:
- Simple Uses for Chard
- Gardening in Part Shade
- Gardening in Full Shade
- Choosing the Right Planter for Your Container Garden
- What is a Heat Zone?