Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
DISEASES AND PESTS
As for beets.
CULTIVATION HISTORY
Chard is a very old crop plant that has been grown since at least the second
century
BC
, presumably domesticated around the Mediterranean. It made its way to Syria and Babylo-
nia, where it was known as
silq
. It was also grown by the Greeks and Romans and, as the Roman Em-
pire expanded north, came to central Europe, where it was a popular garden plant up through the 16th
century. Colorful varieties were described in ornamental plant literature until around 1930, but since
then the ornamental qualities of Swiss chard and spinach beets have been all but forgotten. They re-
main popular vegetables in Italy and the Balkans.
ORACHE
Atriplex hortensis
This is an old European plant whose smoother, milder-tasting leaves are usually eaten like spinach.
Orache comes in yellow (var.
lutea
), green (var.
hortensis
), and red (var.
rubra
). In general, green or-
aches have more succulent leaves, and red and yellow oraches are more interesting for culinary pur-
poses, adding color to entrees, salads, and the like. Younger leaves can be eaten raw. Orache is easy to
cultivate at home, quickly developing a huge mass of leaves, but it is hardly found at market, for its
leaves wilt and become unsightly just as swiftly.
WHAT YOU'LL NEED
• five to 10 plants
• stakes and string or a trellis
POLLINATION NOTES
Orache is a wind-pollinated outcrosser. When multiple varieties are grown near
each other, see to it that they do not flower at the same time; red, yellow, and green varieties can cross
with one another and lose their true-to-type color. It is possible to isolate mechanically with row cover,
but it is more difficult with orache because flowering stems can be over 6 ft. (2 m) tall. Isolation dis-
tance: at least 300 ft. (100 m).
GROWING FOR SEED
The first seeding should be done as early as possible, as soon as the ground has
cleared of snow (late winter to early spring). Seed can be broadcast or sown in rows. When a plant is
cut in early summer above the lowest leaf axil, it enters a second phase of vegetative growth, and a
second leaf harvest is possible about four weeks later. To have fresh leaves all season long, sow more
seed every month until late summer. Orache prefers full sun but can tolerate half shade and can be
sown along the edges of beds to provide shade or as an in-between crop. When growing for seed, thin
to 8 in. (20 cm) within the row, 10 in. (25 cm) between rows. Do not harvest leaves from plants selec-
ted for seed production. Leaves become bitter as soon as the plant flowers.
Self-sowing makes for easy gardening: seeds quickly distribute themselves in the garden and the
plants that spring from them can be left where there is space. Seedlings of red varieties are easy to
identify, though the trained eye can also differentiate green and yellow varieties from the many related
weed species (such as lamb's quarters). Plants that grow from self-seeding are often the prettiest and
