Vegetableleafy greenStraightforward

Chard

Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris

Beetroot bred for its leaves rather than its root, and the most productive leafy crop for the effort in a British garden. One spring sowing crops from midsummer until the following spring, which almost nothing else does. The coloured-stemmed forms are good enough to plant in a flower border.

Position: Full sun or Partial shade
Water: moderate demand
Drainage: Moisture-retentive
Grows to: 40–60 cm × 30 cm
Hardiness: H4
Harvest: June to November
Difficulty: Straightforward

August

Harvest

Chard’s year

Resolved for United Kingdom (general). Every window is stored against a climate event rather than a date, so a late frost pocket runs later than the band shows. What else August calls for.

Activity	J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
Sow outdoors				April.	May.	June.	July.
Harvest						June.	July.	August.	September.	October.	November.

Timing that travels

The band above resolves this plant's windows into months for one region. These are the windows themselves, stored against a climate event rather than a date — which is the form that survives being carried to a colder garden, a frost pocket, or next year.

Conditions it needs

Light: Full sun, Partial shade
Frost: Hardy
Hardiness rating: H4 (RHS)
Grows best at: 10–24 °C
Germinates at: 10–30 °C
Soil: Loam, Clay, Sandy
Soil pH: 6–7.5
Drainage: Moisture-retentive
Water needs: moderate
Drought: moderate tolerance
Waterlogging: moderate tolerance
Heat: good tolerance
Wind and exposure: moderate tolerance

Where these figures come from

LightSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Chard — position
Checked 2026-08-13
FrostSourced guidancehigh confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Chard — hardiness
Checked 2026-08-13
Hardiness ratingSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: RHS hardiness ratings
Checked 2026-08-13
Grows best atSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Chard — temperature
Checked 2026-08-13
Germinates atSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Seed germination temperatures
Checked 2026-08-13
SoilSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Chard — soil
Checked 2026-08-13
Soil pHSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Plant Finder — Missouri Botanical Garden: Beta vulgaris — culture
Checked 2026-08-13
DrainageSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Chard — soil
Checked 2026-08-13
Water needsHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
DroughtHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
WaterloggingHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
HeatHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
Wind and exposureHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13

On your soil

Computed by comparing this plant's recorded requirements against each soil's recorded characteristics. A recorded horticultural fact overrides the comparison where GrowingHQ holds one.

Soil	Verdict	Why
Heavy clay	Prefers this soil	Heavy clay suits Chard as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6 to 7.5, and this soil is in that range. Clay is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering.
Sandy	Grows well here	Chard grows perfectly well on sandy without special measures, though it is not the soil it would choose.
Chalky and alkaline	Grows well here	Chard grows perfectly well on chalky and alkaline without special measures, though it is not the soil it would choose.
Loam	Prefers this soil	Loam suits Chard as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6 to 7.5, and this soil is in that range. Loam is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering.
Silty	Grows well here	Chard grows perfectly well on silty without special measures, though it is not the soil it would choose.
Peaty and acid	Grows well here	Chard grows perfectly well on peaty and acid without special measures, though it is not the soil it would choose.
Shallow over rock	Grows well here	Chard grows perfectly well on shallow over rock without special measures, though it is not the soil it would choose.
Made ground and urban soil	Grows well here	Chard grows perfectly well on made ground and urban soil without special measures, though it is not the soil it would choose.

Not sure which you have? Four hand tests will settle it.

Space and spacing

Mature height: 40–60 cm
Mature spread: 30 cm
Rooting depth: 30 cm
Spacing: 25–30 cm apart

Where these figures come from

Mature heightHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
Mature spreadHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
Rooting depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
SpacingSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Chard — spacing
Checked 2026-08-13

Measured centre to centre. Plants set closer than this compete for light and water long before they look crowded, and the crowding cannot be undone once they are in.

In a container

Minimum volume: 10 litres or more
Minimum depth: 25 cm

Where the container figures come from

Minimum volumeHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
Minimum depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13

Where and how you can grow it

Each way of growing is assessed separately, and “not assessed” is a real answer rather than a gap we have filled in with a guess.

Method	Suitability	What it needs
Open ground	Well suited source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13
Traditional dug bed	Well suited source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13
Raised bed	Well suited source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13
Container	Well suited source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13	10 litres; 25 cm deep
Greenhouse	Well suited source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13
Polytunnel	Well suited source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13
Aquaponics	Well suited source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Purdue Extension — Purdue University: Aquaponic leafy greens Checked 2026-08-13
Hydroponics	Workable source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13
Windowsill	Workable source Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing herbs and salads indoors Checked 2026-08-13

Growing it

HarvestingTake the outer leaves and leave the growing point. Cut the whole plant down and it takes weeks to recover; picked properly a spring sowing crops into the following spring.
ProtectionCover with fleece or a cloche from November. Chard is hardy enough to survive uncovered and produces far better leaves with some protection.

Where this guidance comes from

HarvestingSourced guidancehigh confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Chard — care
Checked 2026-08-13
ProtectionSourced guidancehigh confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Chard — care
Checked 2026-08-13

Is it worth putting under cover?

Whether it will grow there is on the methods table above. This is whether the space is well spent, which is a different question and usually the one being asked.

Structure	What protection is worth	What decides it
Greenhouse	Extends the season source GrowingHQ editorial positionmoderate confidence What protection is worth for this crop, judged against the same standard as every other record in this file. GrowingHQ editorial synthesis — GrowingHQ Checked 2026-08-13	Winter standing. Chard survives outdoors and looks wretched by February; under cover the leaves stay pickable right through.
Polytunnel	Extends the season source GrowingHQ editorial positionmoderate confidence What protection is worth for this crop, judged against the same standard as every other record in this file. GrowingHQ editorial synthesis — GrowingHQ Checked 2026-08-13	Winter standing.

On a windowsill

A few weeks, then replace

source

GrowingHQ editorial positionmoderate confidence

How long the crop is actually productive on an ordinary British windowsill without added light.

GrowingHQ editorial synthesis — GrowingHQ

Checked 2026-08-13

A supermarket pot or a sowing gives a few weeks of cutting and is then exhausted. That is what the crop is, not a failure to keep it alive. Root volume. Baby leaves from a close sowing work for a few weeks; a plant left to make full-sized stems needs far more pot than a sill holds.

Harvesting

When it is readyTake outer leaves and leave the centre growing. Picked this way a single row produces for the best part of a year.
How to pick itTake the outer stems one at a time, snapping them off sideways at the base or cutting them low with a knife, and always leave the growing point and the small central leaves. A chard plant picked this way crops for the better part of a year; one cut across the top in a single go usually sulks and may not recover.

Where the harvest guidance comes from

When it is readySourced guidancehigh confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Chard — harvesting
Checked 2026-08-13
How to pick itSourced guidancehigh confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Chard — harvesting
Checked 2026-08-13

Keep picking

Regular picking keeps this plant producing. Fruit or leaves left to mature signal it to slow down or stop.

What goes wrong

Problem	How often	Notes
Slugs and snails	common source Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence No external citation — see the evidence type above. Checked 2026-08-13
Bolting	occasional source Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence No external citation — see the evidence type above. Checked 2026-08-13	Usually only in the second spring, which is the plant behaving as the biennial it is.

Sources for this page

GrowingHQ editorial synthesis · Plant Finder · Purdue Extension · Royal Horticultural Society

Each figure on this page carries its own citation, under the “where these figures come from” note in its section. Record last reviewed 2026-08-14.

If something is wrong with it

Plant running up to flower before it is ready to eat — 2 causes GrowingHQ holds for chard

Something else? Work through it with the diagnostic tool.