The Chard Tree

markqz Mon Mar 23, 2020 11:35 pm

There's several posts about "swiss chard", but I'm not sure if this is that variety. Last year I cut it down to just the roots because the earwigs had made their home in it. Then started SFG and didn't pay much attention. It grew back, plus some:

The Chard Tree MFTYiMP

I'm thinking of chopping it back and seeing what it does this year.

If anyone thinks this isn't chard, speak now or forever hold your peas.

Kay Burton Tue Mar 24, 2020 6:42 am

You can be sure it is swiss chard, some years ago I had such one so I recognized it from your photo. It ıs swiss cahrd that is coming from the Tetragonia genus.

OhioGardener Tue Mar 24, 2020 8:56 am

markqz wrote:There's several posts about "swiss chard", but I'm not sure if this is that variety. Last year I cut it down to just the roots because the earwigs had made their home in it. Then started SFG and didn't pay much attention. It grew back, plus some:

Mark, since I never pull plants out of the garden, but just cut them off at soil level and let the roots decompose to feed the soil microbes, I have periodically experienced things regrowing from the roots. Two plants that have done this to me are chard and basil, so I ensure I cut those off below the crown and not just at soil level.

An interesting side note on leaving the roots in the soil over the winter - a couple weeks ago I was preparing a bed for planting kale, chard, and spinach transplants, and I encountered several big knots of "wood" in the soil. When I pulled them out, I discovered they were the crowns of last year's pepper plants. The roots were all gone, having been digested by the microbes and worms, but the knot of the crown was apparently too dense for the microbes to work on them. Very Happy

**sanderson** Thu Mar 26, 2020 3:26 pm

When I pulled up the Swiss chard last week to make a replacement bed, I discovered new chard shoots around the root ball areas. I have never notice this happening in prior springs.

**Scorpio Rising** Sat Mar 28, 2020 11:00 am

OhioGardener wrote:An interesting side note on leaving the roots in the soil over the winter - a couple weeks ago I was preparing a bed for planting kale, chard, and spinach transplants, and I encountered several big knots of "wood" in the soil. When I pulled them out, I discovered they were the crowns of last year's pepper plants. The roots were all gone, having been digested by the microbes and worms, but the knot of the crown was apparently too dense for the microbes to work on them.

OG, I do the same thing, and have encountered those remnant pepper trunks too!

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