Should be fine. I often plant it mid-summer.

In zone 5, I don't think it is to late. Swiss chars germinate fast and grow fast too. Since it is from the same family as spinach , you can harvest the bigger outer leaves and use them just like spinach. When they get bigger, develop more texture than spinach. I have given up growing spinach in favor of chards.

While they love the cool weather best, I agree that they will still grow any time. If you can, perhaps grow them under shading plants, for relief from that really HOT afternoon sun. My chards and kale love to be hiding under and in front (to the north of) my tomato plants, you can also slip them into flower beds.
I agree with seysonn, though I still forge on with some spinach, chard and kale are FAR less temperamental about the heat of mid summer (and bolting) and you get so much more from one chard then a spinach plant.
I plant them all thickly, then just pick here and there the baby kale/chards for salads, leaving others to grow larger. I've noticed the spinach seems to do better when planted WITH the chard and kale, I think they are liking the shading factor.

Thats good to know. Thanks all of you. My radish row is to the north of okra row, so I guess that should work well for the chards.

Now after knowing that they do well in some shade, I am wondering if I can plant some between my tomato rows. My tomato rows are 2-2.5 ft apart. Should I plant some chard there as well?

Thanks,
Sam.

Swiss chard is from the same family as beets, not spinach, and it can tolerate heat much better than spinach. It won't bolt but will wilt in the afternoon heat of midsummer. It picks back up again when it cools off and will last till winter. Good choice.

"Swiss chard is from the same family as beets, not spinach,"
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Spinach and chards are related, though not as closely as beet. The flowing is from Wikipedia:
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"Chard and the other beets are chenopods, a group which is either its own family Chenopodiaceae or a subfamily within the Amaranthaceae"

Spinach belongs to subfamily of amaranthaceae

I would not plant chard between the tomato rows. You still need space to walk and the chard plants can get pretty big. On the flip side, the tomatoes will also grow outward over the season and may shade the chard excessively.

It all depends of course on how LARGE the garden is and if it's planted in exact rows or a mish mash of blocks (as mine tends to be).
I use raised beds and have only 6 tomato plants in about a 6' by 3' space. I can access them on 3 sides, so easy access on the fourth (north) side, where a lot of the chard grows, isn't as important. The chard also acts to keep the weeds down to zero around the tomatoes, no mulching required. Of course, you are right about the tomatoes eventually completely shading the chard once they are fully grown but by then I have pretty much picked and eaten it all.
My chard and kale goes into a number of spaces, between beets and in pretty much any empty spots where weeds might grow. If they risk shading carrots etc too much, you just harvest and eat them while young:) Radishes are excellent fillers as well, they grow fast and can be sprinkled around and between anything else.

Not to beat a dead horse, but Swiss chard is the same species as beets (Beta vulgaris); it is just a beet bred for its leaves, as opposed to its root. Both beets & spinach are members of the family Chenopodiaceae.

Although chard is cool tolerant & can be planted early, I prefer to plant mine late, around July 1st or so. It germinates & grows quickly in warmer conditions. The leaves of late-planted chard will not reach the gargantuan size of Spring plantings, but will be more tender. As previously mentioned, it will not bolt in the heat like spinach, and since it can be harvested often until frost, the yield is much higher.

Count me among those who have permanently given up on spinach, in favor of chard. In addition to its much higher yield, I like that it has more substance than spinach, and doesn't boil down to nothing - especially if the stalks are chopped up with the greens. You can freeze a surprising amount from a relatively small area. I freeze a year's worth from a 30' row.

Ditto on the shade recommendation, especially where summer heat can be excessive. I've grown mine in the partial shade of pole beans, with good results.

If you intend to freeze chard, I recommend waiting for late Summer / early Fall to do so. The leaves sweeten if harvested during cooler weather.

How do you go about freezing the chard?

Thats some real good info. Thanks. Never thought about using chard and radish as a way to control weeds. After reading this I just planted a row between my eggplant rows.
I am also keen to know how you freeze chard.

zeedman....do you blanch the chard and then freeze?

Yes, I blanch the chard before freezing. I roll up the leaf, and cut it crossways into thin strips (1/2" - 3/4"), then either chop up some of the stem or slice it thinly, and add it to the leaves. The amount of stem to add is up to your taste. Personally, I like the amount of body that the stem adds to the cooked greens... especially if I use the chard in soup.

The best way to freeze chard (or any other vegetable in quantity) is to use a stainless steel kettle with a large strainer basket. It makes quick transfer simpler, and avoids over cooking. If you have two identical kettles (which I highly recommend) one basket can be cooking while the other is cooling. I just use cold running water (into another kettle shorter & wider than the basket) to cool the veggies after blanching, for a period equal to the blanching time. Then pour them out into a strainer, drain, and pack into containers.

I've seen recommendations for blanching greens for only a minute or two, but in my experience, 3 minutes is the minimum. I base this upon a pound of chard at a time... and while this is a fairly large amount of chard, it will shrink down quickly once stirred into the boiling water (though not as much as spinach). After the initial weighing, I use a bowl filled to the same volume for subsequent batches.

If you mix slices of stalk with the leaves, or if the leaves are larger & heavily veined, it may be necessary to use a longer blanching time, perhaps 4-5 minutes.

Blanching is not a precise science, since it varies with the volume of the kettle, the heat setting, altitude, and the weight of the vegetables being blanched. The first time I blanch something, I use the recommendations of the Ball canning book as a starting point, then look for signs & make adjustments. Insufficiently blanched veggies may float after cooling, while fully blanched veggies generally sink. Blanching also causes color change, and if the color change is incomplete, then a longer time may be required.

The best way to freeze chard (or any other green) is to pack the blanched chard tightly into a freezer box, freeze until solid, then vacuum seal the frozen "brick" (this avoids the bad seal you can get from vacuum sealing wet veggies). Protected this way, the chard will not get freezer burn. Alternatively, freeze the chard packed in just enough water to cover it. The ice will give some protection from freezer burn, although not for as long as vacuum sealing.

This post was edited by zeedman on Fri, Jun 14, 13 at 20:53