I have 2 rows of the Red type Swiss Chard in my garden I was wondering if anyone knows how cold it has to get to kill it?
It is going to be 18 degrees several nights in a row.
It has been a few years sinse I planted this. One year I remember the Swiss Chart and Kale did fine and we had snow that year but the next year cold weather killed the Swiss Chard.
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rainbowgardener
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Depends on what you mean. Once it's been really frozen (as opposed to light frost) a couple times, it isn't any good to eat any more (mine is now in that condition). But the plant may still be alive. Swiss chard sometimes overwinters for me and comes back in the spring and my winters are harsher than yours.
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Gary350
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What happens to it after it freezes that it is not good to eat?rainbowgardener wrote:Depends on what you mean. Once it's been really frozen (as opposed to light frost) a couple times, it isn't any good to eat any more (mine is now in that condition). But the plant may still be alive. Swiss chard sometimes overwinters for me and comes back in the spring and my winters are harsher than yours.
We have only had about 7 or 8 days below freezing in the past month my Swiss Chard seems to be fine at the moment. I like the Red much better taste than the Green it makes an excellent salad and good on sandwiches too.
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applestar
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I recently told this story in another thread, but I snuck a yellow-ribbed Swiss Chard (a volunteer in my container-grown Stevia that has been brought inside for the winter) in my DD8's ham sandwich so she would eat some leafy greens. A few days later, she was telling my DH that she wants the "special lettuce Mama is growing RIGHT THERE" that tastes BETTER than lettuce. 
Maybe a simple floating row cover held above the leaves with hoops would be sufficient to keep your SC going? In Four Season Gardening (or similar title), Elliot Coleman recommends double covers -- floating row cover few inches above the leaves and a plastic tunnel above -- for protecting spinach and other winter greens. But he's based in Maine (or Connecticut?). I believe all edges should be securely buried with soil.
Maybe a simple floating row cover held above the leaves with hoops would be sufficient to keep your SC going? In Four Season Gardening (or similar title), Elliot Coleman recommends double covers -- floating row cover few inches above the leaves and a plastic tunnel above -- for protecting spinach and other winter greens. But he's based in Maine (or Connecticut?). I believe all edges should be securely buried with soil.
garden5 wrote:Don't quote me on this, but I believe that they become mushy when you cook them. I know this is what happens to my lettuce.
Chard does get very tender when cooked. It is very similar to spinach, only much larger and a bit sturdier leaves, but cooks down about the same.
Any greens, be it collards, mustard, turnip, kale etc. will cook down to about 1/6th volume from what you started with. When I cook collards, I'll start with a 12 qt. pot full of cut greens and by the time I shut them off, I'm lucky to have about 2 qts. of cooked greens. But, boy are they good!!!!
Last year I lost my swiss chard after a freeze of about 15F for about a week. Usually it just gets less desirable to eat into the dead of winter here in the pacific northwest - until spring comes and it's the first green thing coming on like gang busters in early spring. I've heard that Fordhook Giant is one of the best cold hardy varieties around here.