Rhubarb chard gone to seed

[firesprite]

All of my rhubarb chard has gone to seed - if I cut the stems that have seeded down to base level will the plant send up new stems? Or have they gone too far, done their duty and now need to be replaced by new plants. Also- are the leaves below the seeded heads likely to be bitter? Any advice welcome please

[veggiechicken]

I leave my chard to self seed, but that is probably not the answer you want! It is a very robust plant and I've had chard snap off at soil level in the wind and sprout again. The older the leaf, the tougher it will be and it really depends on how you want to eat it. If raw, you want small, young and tender leaves: for cooking the bigger ones are fine.
Maybe start a few new plants now and while they are growing on, keep cropping the older ones. You could try taking out the tops of the chard and encouraging new shoots lower down too, just to keep it going until the new plants are ready.

[firesprite]

thanks veggie chicken - will try a combination of both - cutting down snipping tops off and starting some more. Don't like to compost all the leaves when they might be edible - seems a waste somehow especially as the slugs and snails don't seem to have an appetite for the chard

[chris]

I treat chard like cut and come again for my chickens - it always regrows

[Green Wolf]

Our swiss chard plants have now been in 16 months since March 2011 and even though they have produced flower heads we just pinch these out and eat all the lovely little baby leaves that form just below the stems...they are like baby spinach, with no bitterness. We picked all these baby leaves off our 8 plants on Monday and by today they had regrown, so I think you could carry on harvesting your current plants until new ones are ready to go in.

[northepaul]

All my chard and sorrel have bolted due to the weather. Personally I prefer it tenderer so will resow. If you plan on treating it like cabbage then keep it

[Alison]

Everybody keeps saying that chard is indestructable but I find that it always bolts in it's first year and always gets killed off in the winter - even mild ones like last year. Perpetual spinach does better and that variety seems hardier. The first year I grew it I pulled it out when it bolted as I didn't realise it was still good - I now cut out the seed head and carry on eating the other leaves and it's fine. To keep some going over winter I do a late summer sowing and put some in the polytunnel which does very well.

[zazen999]

I've just had to wrestle a 6ft tall white chard tonight, not because I felt like a fight but because it had gone to seed and I didn't want it crossing with my beetroot that is currently flowering for seed saving.

It took some doing but I got there in the end. It will probably resprout but that's what it does.

[CimaDirapa]

Aren't perp spinach and chard are the same thing? another question, does chard keep on going after the second year?

[lukens]

They're different cultivars of the same species, I believe. Though, at least as far as labelling seed packets goes, there seems to be no clear defining line.

[Alison]

Aren't perp spinach and chard are the same thing? another question, does chard keep on going after the second year?

Basically the same thing but I've always found the perpetual spinach to be far hardier than the more colourful versions of chard. I understand that it will go a second year but I never have, it also self seeds so I'll often dig up the young plants and move to a new location the following year.