Well chard is a beet taht is grown for it's foliage rather than a swollen root, so I would *think* it would have a fairly shallow and uncomplicated root system. But I have never tried it. I say give it a try, at worst you just lose some of your time. Oh and good luck with your Canook okra project!

'I would *think* it would have a fairly shallow and uncomplicated root system.'

In my experience mature chard plants have huge tap roots. Sometimes I have real trouble pulling the old plants out at the end of the season. (In my climate that is in the second year when they have seeded to provide me with a constant supply of self growing chard.) I also think that transplanting would encourage earlier bolting. But it would be an interesting experiment.

I have to get help from my 220 lb. husband to get my Fordhook Giant swiss chard out. The tap root is that big. Regular chard I can pull myself but it still has an impressive tap root. I doubt a mature plant will transplant well. I would think it is kind of like transplanting a beet. But like Flora said, why not try it. What do you have to loose?

Here is a link that might be useful: Adventures in Agriburbia

Update:

I was unable to move the swiss chard with the whole taproots, so I had to forcefully pull them off with just a small rootball attached. They wilted at first, but then recovered with a very high survival rate (more than 90%). That was probably thanks to a stretch of mild and wet weather that followed the move. They are still growing slower than they were before the move but no signs of bolting yet and there is now enough to pick and eat.