Chard 'Bright Lights' Seeds
It looks good, it tastes good… and it does you good too!
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Just £3.99
Key Features
RHS Garden Merit
Plant In Sunshine
Edible
Easy To Grow
Width: 40cm
Height: 50cm
Height: 50cm
- An easy-to-grow, ornamental variety that stands out from the crowd in beds, borders or containers.
- A true ‘cut and come again’ leafy veg with rainbow-coloured stems and superb flavour.
- Easy to grow, this award-winning Swiss chard will crop prolifically over a long season.
- Tasty and nutritious – pick as baby leaves for colourful salads or steam or stir-fry like spinach.
- Supplied as a packet of 150 (approx.) seeds ready to sow outdoors in cropping position.
Plant Calendar
Fruiting Time
Sowing Time
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Description
A sensational ornamental chard that will brighten up your vegetable plot or patio containers – and true to its name, ‘Bright Lights’ can also provide colourful contrast in herbaceous garden beds and borders. With dark green and bronze leaves and rainbow stems ranging from white and orange-yellow through to pinky red and purple, it is a real stunner, as well as being delicious to eat and packed full of vitamins, minerals and healthy fibre.
A worthy winner of the RHS Award of Garden Merit, this hardy biennial is easy to grow and slow-bolting. It will be ready to harvest in 4-6 weeks after sowing. Cropping prolifically over a long season, it is a true ‘cut and come again’ variety; the leaves will regenerate 1-2 weeks after harvesting the whole plant (leaving 2.5-5cm base), or remove just the outer leaves and allow the heart to grow on. The plants are robust enough to withstand light frosts and will continue to give good quality leaves until the colder winter weather sets in.
This versatile veg has a lovely mild, sweet flavour when picked as baby leaves for salads and garnishes, developing an interesting and slightly bitter note when left to mature. Cook as you would spinach – lightly steamed or stir-fried to retain colour, flavour and nutrients. There will be plenty to pick all through the season, so any excess can be blanched and packed in an airtight bag for the freezer, where it will store well for up to a year for adding to soups and stews.
Supplied as a packet of 150 (approx.) seeds ready to sow outdoors from April to mid-July, directly into their cropping position in well-drained, fertile soil. Harvest mid-July to November and if protected over winter will produce an early spring crop. Alternatively, sow in containers of at least 25cm (10in) depth and diameter (will accommodate 3-4 plants), using a good-quality compost.
Top Tips
- Sow in spring and again in summer to extend the cropping season.
- Give cloche protection from October onwards to encourage cropping into winter.
- When cooking larger leaves, separate the leaves and stems and cook the stems for a couple of minutes longer than the leaves for optimum flavour and texture.
Care Information
How to grow Chard
- Sow outdoors thinly, from April to July, in an open, sunny position where they are to crop, 2.5cm (1in) deep, directly into finely prepared soil that has already been watered. Allow 40cm (16in) between rows. Seedlings usually appear in 14-21 days. Thin seedlings to 15cm (6in) apart. Water well until plants are established.
- Harvest from 4-6 weeks after sowing. Regularly pick a few leaves and stems at a time, without stripping the plants, allowing the plants to continue growing.
Aftercare
- Plants usually die back through winter, but will ‘come again’ the following spring to produce a further early crop, before running to seed.
- Mulch in the autumn and give cloche protection or cover with straw or similar material to encourage cropping into winter.
Delivery Information
Please allow us 3-5 working days to dispatch your order. Pre-ordered items will be sent as soon as possible after the date quoted and we'll generally ship your entire order with your pre-ordered items. When your order is dispatched, we'll send you another email with details of how to track it.
Most orders are sent on a fully-tracked courier service with Yodel. To avoid perishable items being stuck at depots and deteriorating, no signature is required, and our courier is asked to leave your order in a safe place on your property.
We'll send a tracking link when we dispatch your order, so you know when its due to arrive. Please note, once delivered we cannot be held responsible for loss or theft from your property. If you have any specific delivery instructions, please let us know - there's an option to enter a short message for the courier at the checkout.
Smaller, lighter, single-item orders may be sent through the post with Royal Mail - in which case no tracking is available.
Our experienced nursery team will always send your plants nursery fresh in the perfect condition to thrive when you plant them, so although most plants are very tough and will not be affected by all but the most extreme frosts or heatwaves, we avoid dispatching the most perishable plants if extreme weather is forecast, or over Bank Holiday weekends.
Please note, we cannot guarantee delivery on a certain day or time. Delivery to outlying postcode areas may take 1-2 days longer, dependent on your location.
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