I was trying to decide whether to try growing chard in an Aerogarden. I seldom eat chard and never buy it, but a discussion on another forum made me wonder if I should give it another try. I bought a bunch of red chard with my last grocery order and sauteed it today (olive oil and butter), then added a squeeze of lemon. It was fairly "meh" but we ate it. I have a similar reaction to raw chard in salad... tastes kind of bitter and doesn't add much. Do you like chard? What am I missing here? Should I try another variety other than the red (stems)? My favorite greens to grow in the AG so far are lettuces, bok choy and tatsoi. The bok choy and tatsoi are both excellent in stir fry; very mild and tasty. So those are fun to grow because we eat them. Not sure if I'd be wasting garden space on chard.
I'll eat chard if it's in front of me, but I'll agree on the meh factor. There are too many other yummy greens out there to waste your tastebuds on meh.
We used to grow chard, but haven't for a while as we just eat beet greens and turnip greens as a "two for one" kinda thing (roots and leaves are edible). We grow lettuce, spinach, and claytonia (miner's lettuce) in the greenhouses. We grow lettuce in the small Aerogarden we have in the winter, but chard would quickly outgrow our little device. Greens of all kinds depend largely on how they are cooked and what your tastes are. We have found that bacon makes every green better. We can kale and mustard greens with ham hocks and bacon for use in the winter, but not chard or beet greens and seldom turnip greens and roots. We also have a recipe for "early spring greens" that involves a sweet and sour type thing with vinegar and molasses...and bacon, of course.
A big no from me on chard. Life is too short to defile my taste buds with bitterness of such a leaf, best left to goats. My memories of visiting and staying with my aunt in East Texas are tainted with memories of Swiss Chard and Poke greens. Why eat chard, poke, kale, and such when spinach is available?
I guess because spinach is not always available. When I lived in North Carolina, I grew bushels of spinach--cooked down to about a quart. We found we could wash our spinach in the clothes washer on cold wash and spin. Here we can barely get it to grow, as it bolts in the long days. We have to rely on other greens.
I have tried spinach a couple of times in the Aerogardens. It refuses to germinate which annoys me to no end. Some people put the seeds in a wet paper towel to sprout but I'm not going to do that.
When I lived in Los Fresnos, Texas, I had a couple of Swiss Chard plants growing outside my front door. I hardly had to do anything with them, and I could break off a few leaves every now and then to use in place of lettuce in salads or sandwiches, or I could use it in place of other greens in soups. I don't know that it has a lot of taste on its own, and I certainly didn't notice a bitter taste. It saved me from having to buy lettuce, three-fourths of which would go to waste. I prefer it to spinach, although I don't hate spinach.
I always add radicchio/chicory (a bitter lettuce relative) to my salads, but only to augment them, never as the primary lettuce. I see there are recipes for wilted chard. My mother used to eat wilted endive (a chicory), cooked down in bacon fat (to balance its nutritional benefits) and sprinkled with vinegar. I applaud your healthy intent in using olive oil, but maybe some pig fat is in order here. Regarding your bok choy, how large does it get in the Aerogarden? Does it get grocery store size, or is it a smaller head variety?
The bok choy variety I plant in the AG does not form a head. I have read that it can be "banded" as it grows to be a tighter bunch, but I just let it grow wild. Here's my latest bok choy; it's in the middle shelf. (Tatsoi on top; cherry tomatoes on bottom) I just harvest the outer more mature leaves as I want them.
1-I've never heard of Tatsoi, but it's been a while since I've been into stir fry. 2-Your attachment Cannot Be Found.
I like Tatsoi better than bok choy; it's slightly sweet and milder than bok choy. Both are excellent in stir fry, or in soups, etc. Sorry about the attachment. I was going to swap the picture for one with better focus but decided that one would do, lol.
The blot in my preps has been fresh veggies. I'll have to check into one of these setups...if I can find a spot in my tiny house. edit to add: Tatsoi can be grown to harvestable size in 45–50 days, and can withstand temperatures down to –10 °C (15 °F). Tatsoi can even be harvested from under snow.
I think you'd enjoy an Aerogarden. It really is nice to have fresh herbs growing in the kitchen, plus the "enthusiasts" get really geeky which is right up your alley. For that matter, you might try a couple of Kratky jars under a grow light.