How to Grow Swiss Chard Indoors
Out of all the leafy greens in the world, Swiss chard is not only one of the tastiest, but also one of the best-looking. With beautiful rainbow stalks accompanied by vitamin-rich and mild leaves, it’s easy to see why Swiss chard has entered its own heyday (step aside, kale and spinach!). Growing Swiss chard at home is easier than ever ⎯ and we’ll tell you exactly how and why to do it.
You can harvest all types of fresh and sustainable produce with Gardyn Home Kit 3.0, which can be set up in practically any space. Skip the steps and find out how Gardyn’s indoor gardening system works for you in all its simplicity.
DAYS TO SPROUT
7 - 21 DAYS
MATURE IN
32 - 59 DAYS
TASTE IT FOR
4 - 5 WEEKS
Table of Contents
Care & Harvest
🌡️ Temperature
✂️ Pruning
🔎 Plant Health
🥬 Harvest
Why Grow Swiss Chard at Home?
Swiss chard is one of the most versatile leafy greens, and has a sweet earthy taste that is a great addition to a variety of dishes and a variety of palates. Including endless possibilities in the kitchen, there are many reasons why growing your own Swiss chard at home is so beneficial.
So Fresh and So Clean
You can’t get more local than growing and harvesting produce in your own home. Whether sautéed or served up in a salad, the Swiss chard you grow is going to be the freshest you can find without any question marks surrounding what you normally get from the supermarket produce aisle.
Any Time, Any Season
Swiss chard is typically in season during the late summer and fall. By learning how to grow Swiss Chard at home with an indoor garden, you can have a fresh and full-flavored harvest year-round.
Environmentally Conscious
One of the best parts of home and indoor gardening is reducing waste and time. No trips to the supermarket, no spoiled produce, and no unnecessary plastic packaging.
Healthy and Homegrown
Like spinach and most leafy greens, Swiss chard is a vegetable that has loads of vitamins and minerals, like vitamin C and iron. Plus, you’re assured that your produce will be pesticide- and chemical-free. Doesn’t hurt that it’s also delicious!
Skip out on Produce Prices
Whether you’re going to the grocery store or the farmer’s market, we all know that prices for high-quality, fresh produce can be discouragingly high. By investing in an indoor gardening system and growing your own Swiss chard at home, you’ll cut costs in the long run.
Curious to know how you can start your no mess and no fuss indoor gardening system. Step in: Gardyn’s Home Kits. Their innovative designs will dazzle the inner gardener in you. Learn how having a vegetable garden can work for you.
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What Do You Need to Grow Swiss Chard at Home?
Swiss chard is relatively easy to grow at home and fairly low maintenance. The leafy green can grow indoors year-round with just a few steps and key environmental factors:
Temperature
Swiss chard does well in cool temperatures, but still needs its fair share of sunlight. An indoor room temperature of 60-70º Fahrenheit is ideal, and you can place your plant on or near a windowsill for some extra light.
Light
Swiss chard plants need about 10 to 16 hours of light per day. A south-facing window works great to provide sufficient light without damaging the plant. You can also use fluorescent lights with a timer and the appropriate bulbs.
Container
In order to grow Swiss chard indoors, you also need to choose an appropriate container. A suitable pot would be about 6 to 8 inches deep. You can use a damp potting mix to fill those pots, as well as using fertilizer to keep your plant healthy.
Swiss chard is a beautiful and tasty addition to any home and home garden, and isn’t too difficult to grow. However, the Gardyn Home Kit is a great alternative that does all the work for you. It’ll give you the ideal temperature, lighting and plant maintenance you need to grow Swiss Chard at home. Plus, you can get started growing even more fruits and vegetables in your indoor garden! Get started today.
How to plant Swiss chard at home
Now that we know everything about the benefits of Swiss chard and what you need to grow it at home, let’s walk through the step-by-step of how to make it happen. You can buy starter plants at a nursery, but it’s also possible to start from seeds, which can give you beautiful baby greens within 1-2 months. Starting from seed, here are some basic guidelines for planting your own Swiss Chard at home:
- Find a plastic pot with drainage holes or poke holes in a recycled container;
- Make sure your pot is large enough ⎯ at least 6-8 inches deep;
- Fill with potting mix made for food crops;
- Soak your seeds in room temperature water for 2-3 hours;
- Slightly dampen your potting mix with water;
- Place your seeds in the soil ½-inch deep and 6-inches apart.
The seeds won’t need light while they germinate, only after they’ve sprouted to seedlings. Once your baby greens have shot up, you can harvest some for salads and let others continue to grow. The stems will develop into thick stalks, which you can harvest in a number of ways (more on that below!).
A simpler way to grow Swiss Chard at home is with the Gardyn Home Kit. This is a holistic indoor system that does most of the work for you. The kit comes with a selection of yCubes so you can choose from 80+ plant varieties ⎯ including Swiss Chard. It doesn’t matter if it’s spring or winter. With Gardyn, you can have it all, and just a matter of a few weeks. Get to growing faster and easier, and enjoy the fun parts like harvesting and eating your produce all year round!
How to care for your indoor Swiss chard garden
As we know by now, growing Swiss Chard at home is fairly simple and relatively low maintenance, especially when you use an indoor gardening system like the Gardyn Home Kit. But whether you’re using a hydroponic system or starting from scratch on your own, there are a few steps to follow to best care for your leafy greens.
Maintenance
The maintenance needs of Swiss chard are pretty minimal ⎯ but it is important to check in with your plant and make sure it’s healthy. About once a month, check the roots and trim leaves that are brown, yellow, or growing out of the pot. Of course, watering regularly is key to ensure your greens grow.
Pests
The most common pests on a Swiss chard are aphids. Thankfully, there are many solutions to combat these bugs. Gardyn offers plenty of pest prevention tips to help you grow Swiss Chard at home.
Watering Swiss chard
Like all growing greens, your indoor Swiss chard needs a consistent supply of water to survive and thrive. Especially for indoor plants, it’s important to water regularly since you can’t rely on rain. Water your Swiss Chard with 1 to 1.5 inches of water per week.
Fertilizing Swiss chard
Swiss Chard plants actually do well with little to no fertilizer, a bonus when it comes to maintaining the plants and keeping them healthy. However, you can use fertilizer to give the Swiss chard an extra boost. You can keep it simple by adding in a liquid fertilizer when you water.
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Harvesting and using your Swiss chard
Of course, the best part of growing Swiss chard in your home is getting to eat it! You can harvest the leaves when they are young or after they grow a bit larger and sturdier. Snip the leaves 2 inches above the crowns to rejuvenate plants and prolong their growth.
Either raw or cooked, there’s so much you can do with Swiss chard, from more complicated recipes like galettes and dips, to simple salads and sides. We’ll share one foolproof and delicious dish you can make with your homegrown Swiss chard:
- Slice your Swiss chard into thin strips;
- Heat oil in a pan and add garlic and red pepper flakes to your taste;
- Stir in the chard until it’s coated in the oil and spices;
- Cover the pan and let it cook until the Swiss chard is wilted;
- Stir and season until the chard reaches your desired texture and taste.
Find more ideas and recipes for Swiss chard and other veggies you grow in your indoor home garden.
Give Chard a Chance!
Once you know how to grow Swiss chard in your home, the only thing left is to do it! Growing Swiss chard in your home means less waste, less cost, more flavor and more health benefits. To make your life easier, you can use an indoor gardening system to cut down on trial and error and have access to even more fresh fruits and vegetables.
Gardyn’s systems fit busy lives and urban homes, with less clean-up and less of a learning curve. The Home Kit 3.0 has many features to ensure the success of your home garden:
- Vertical set-up that lets you grow 30 large plants in just 2 square feet of space;
- An AI-powered system to monitor plant needs and support plant life 24/7;
- Vacation Mode to pause plant growth and keep them fresh for your return;
- Built in LED lights and sensors for the optimum plant environment.
Check out the Gardyn membership and learn more about the large variety of plants you can grow in your home. Choose a better way to garden, a better way to eat, and a better way to live with Gardyn.
