PlantSowGrow
How to grow Swiss Chard (Bright Lights)
Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris
🥕 Vegetable
🌱 Grown each year
Rainbow-stemmed chard — red, yellow, orange and pink — as ornamental as it is tasty. Crops for months and overwinters.
At a glance: Sow early April to mid July, harvest from late May.
When to sow, plant and harvest
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Sow outdoors
Harvest
Timed for a typical UK garden (last frost mid-April). The app uses your own town's frost dates.
Growing Swiss Chard (Bright Lights): what it needs
- Light
- Full sun · 6+ hours a day
- Watering
- Water regularly in dry weather
- Soil
- Fertile, well-drained soil
- Spacing
- 30 cm
- In pots
- Grows well in containers
- Feeding
- A general feed before sowing or planting
- Harvest
- About 60 days from sowing
- Hardiness
- USDA zones 3–9
- Difficulty
- Easy
Step by step
- Early April – mid July · 2 weeks before the last spring frost
Sow Seeds Outdoors
Sow thinly in drills where they are to grow.
- 7–14 days after “Sow Seeds Indoors” · Early April – mid April
Check Germination
Seedlings should appear in 7–14 days. If sown outdoors, thin to 30 cm apart when big enough to handle.
- 46–67 days after “Check Germination” · Late May – mid June
Start Harvesting
Pick outer leaves at the base; the centre keeps producing.
- 150–180 days after “Start Harvesting” · Late October – mid November
Finish and Clear
Clear the remains to the compost heap once cropping ends.
More vegetables to grow
Photo: Ruth Hartnup from Vancouver, Canada / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
