Why grow Swiss Chard or Spinach in Botswana

Why grow Swiss Chard or Spinach in Botswana?

We often call it Spinach however the correct name is Swiss Chard this vegetable is a really great addition to any small farm and there are three good reasons 

1. Swiss Chard is very uncomplicated to grow and really does not need much attention, if you plant and water it, it will grow.

2. It is profitable, and the reason for this is not that the profit margin is high but rather that you can sell it every week, the market hardly gets flooded as Swiss Chard has a very short shelf life. this means that if you are supplying street vendors or even large main stream shops  they will need fresh produce every week.

3.Farm space. Unlike Tomato's or Cabbages, Swiss Chard does not need a lot of space. If you plant 10 sq. meters of Swiss Chard you will find your self harvesting without much problem 30 plus bundles of Swiss Chard per week.

So to sum it up basically, Swiss Chard is what helps you as the farmer pay the day to day bills while you wait for your main crops to mature eg. Cabbages or Green Peppers. Also any extra old stock could be fed to your pigs or Sheep!

So how do you grow Swiss Chard? Well I wrote about that in 2016 so here is a link to that: How to Grow Swiss Chard?

Growing swiss chard vegetable farming

Growing swiss chard vegetable farming

Hello once again,
Today i am going to be laying out a few tips on growing Swiss chard some call it spinach although it is actually very different from real spinach. However before that, first of all i just want to say a big thank you to all of you who have subscribed/followed, really appreciate it, we are slowly growing.

How to growing Swiss chard?

(1) Prepare the soil first

Although Swiss chard are by no means fussy about the type of soil that they will grow in, you will not be disappointed with your results if you spend some quality time on soil preparation first.
The ultimate soil type would be a rich organic filled loose, moisture retaining soil, so add lots of compost, or organic animal waste, See the danger of using chicken manure here

(2) planting depth

Plant the seeds about 1 too 1.5cm deep, use fresh seeds since old seed often gives bad results. You will notice that each seed is often not one seed but rather a small cluster of 2 or 3 seeds. Hence when the seeds sprout you may need to thin out the unwanted extras,  i like to space Swiss chard out in rows of about 15 by 30 cm apart,

(3) Watering

Basically keep the soil moist yet not soggy, you should not see standing water or be able to squeeze water out of the soil,

(4) Harvesting

You can start harvesting as soon as the young leaves are of a size worth eating, lots of people harvest by cutting the tops off with a knife, this is not to be recommended, Swiss chard is harvested leaf by leaf by twisting the leaf at the base and pulling up, the harvester should go from plant to plant removing the biggest three or four leaves from each plant, and allowing the smaller leafs to grow for the next harvest, this way your plants will give a good supply of swiss chard for up to five months

Well thats, that for today thanks for stopping by

Best vegetables to grow in Botswana