Perpetual Spinach Chard--I'm definitely a fan!

Perpetual Spinach Chard was a new crop for us in 2024. The plant shown here (pic taken 4/16/25) was planted last Spring-2024.

We harvested from it all season last year, and continued to harvest from it clear through the winter-- and we still are harvesting from it. These are, in my opinion, outstanding, incredibly delicious greens.

To be clear, this is NOT spinach.
It is chard. BUT the flavor is much more similar to spinach than it is to traditional Swiss or Rainbow Chard.

ALSO, Spinach Chard is WAY more bolt resistant than traditional Swiss or Rainbow Chard.  The young and baby leaves are so tender and succulent, they are lovely in fresh salads. All the leaves, young or mature are excellent sauteed as one would prepare spinach, in stir fry or in soups & stews. I love to saute it with onions and have with my morning egg.

I have watched videos of folks blanching spinach chard then draining and freezing it and they claim it is still delicious when added to dishes through the winter. However, since ours didn't bolt and kept producing (in our poly tunnel) through the winter, we were super thankful and blessed to have the fresh greens year round.

I will note that in the winter, the plant has a much lower to the ground growing profile and the extra cold temps seem to make the leaves extra sweet and succulent. As it warms up, the plant forms a more up-right and stretched habit. The leaves are still delicious but best when harvested in the cool of the morning.

If you've ever struggled with growing spinach here in the EM or you'd like to have greens year round, I highly recommend giving Perpetual Spinach Chard a try. You can find seeds online lots of places. A few of my favorite places to buy seeds are: True Leaf Market, MI Gardener and Baker Creek.

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