Chard and celeriac through the winter?

[HeyWayne]

On a recent jaunt to the plot I noticed that both my chard and celeriac have quite a bit of green growth still on them.

Is it worth me leaving them in situ in the hope that they will at some point be edible, or do I dig them up and start over?

[Kristen]

celeriac will go to seed come the spring, so best to make use of whatever "root" you have - but you can leave it a bit longer.

The Chard may come again. I resow each Spring (and sow some in the Autumn and plant in the greenhouse for the Spring crop) so you could perhaps leave your over-Winter Chard in until your Spring sown is ready for harvesting?

[fruitylou]

I grew chard last year and the packet said if it was left in the ground it would come back up again in spring, mine is just starting to pop back up now

[Flummery]

Chard will often do well for another year but eventually seeds. I left one once to see what happened. It got to about 5ft high and when I got sick of gardening round it and pulled it up (not easy!) it had left a scatter of seedling around which I then lifted and made a new row for the following year.

[grenhouse]

I use my chard much more in it's second year than I do in the first. They tend to put out much bigger leaves. They do always go to seed though, however I just take of seed heads, give them the chucks and then keep eating the leaves, they don't really taste any different.

Steve

[Two_Sheds]

Mine doesn't die back at all over the winter - the outer leaves get a bit frazzled in the cold, but it's still there and still growing

[Jono]

I put some in my garden at home over the winter, and its started to recover in the last couple of weeks. Like the posts before me say, it will go to seed, but reckon its got plenty of life left in it.

[VirginVegGrower]

Personally I have already pulled my celeriac and am storing it in sacks in the garage.

[HeyWayne]

Personally I have already pulled my celeriac and am storing it in sacks in the garage.

Trouble is, mine didn't really get to much before winter set in.

First time of trying chard and it kept bolting last year - also LadyWayne isn't really a big fan, so I doubt I'll grow any purposefully this year.

Cheers folks.

[northepaul]

My celeriac are still in the ground - (or about half) new growth and I was hoping to do the same as you Wayne, as they were still quite small. However the ones I have dug up, although small, are very tasty.

[VirginVegGrower]

My celeriac are still in the ground - (or about half) new growth and I was hoping to do the same as you Wayne, as they were still quite small. However the ones I have dug up, although small, are very tasty.

They need quite a long growing season, longer than indicated on the packet. I sow mine early and keep in greenhouse once established.
Everything gets started off on my windowsills.

[dave_norm_smith]

You may want to check one of the celeriac. Mine looked to have got through winter, putting out green stuff but the root was actually a ball of mush! Hopefully I will do better with it this year as I managed to stuff them up at every turn last year. lol

Dave

[jackyspratty]

Im starting my celeriac now. Didnt do too much last year, just 8 but were delicious! Be aware too that woodlice seem to move in and use them as a hotel the longer you leave them. Makes chopping them up a bit of wary exercise!

[Two_Sheds]

Mine are all still in the ground - once again they are all leaf, no root

[richardbees]

I've got a few rainbow chard that have been in the ground for 4 years and continue to put up new leaves......probably their roots are over 3ft deep!