I just harvested a bunch of my spinach that was growing under 2 ladders in one of my beds. Now the space looks so empty. Any ideas for what to plant there now? Space is kinda limited. There is just the area under the ladders. There are peas trellised up the ladders so the area gets a little shade. I was thinking about some lettuce I found that claims to like warm weather. But we have so much lettuce! I won't do zukes or cukes ,cuz we won't eat 'em. Maybe some carrots? I hate to leave the space empty. Any ideas? I am in SE Wisconsin, zone 5.
Thanks!

swiss chard will grow well and is very tasty...

swiss chard...I have never tried it before. Do you eat it raw, or cook it & how?

A quote from the following article that appeared
in Organic gardening Dec96, Vol. 43 Issue 9, p34, 5p
titled " HOW TO SUCCEED WITH SUCCESSION PLANTING ".


Andrea Ray Chandler -- our highly organized zone 5 tester in Olathe, Kansas -- takes her succession planting seriously. She even makes brightly colored season-by-season diagrams to help plan -- and achieve -- the perfect timing for executing these super successful successions.

#1: In late March, she sets out transplants of broccoli and Chinese cabbage, which are harvested in May and replaced with transplants of tomatoes, eggplants and peppers, which stay in that bed until frost.

#2: A true traditionalist, she plants (shelling) peas on St. Patty's day, and replaces them with a May seeding of one (or several) of the following: sunflowers, okra, carrots (for fall harvest) and beans that are eaten fresh (green) and dry.

#3: She plants potatoes in late March/early April, digs them up in July and replaces them with one of several fall garden crops -- either kohlrabi, chard, lettuce or spinach.

#4: Here's Andrea's scheme for getting three crops from one bed: An early spring planting of radishes, beets, spinach and lettuce is replanted with sweet corn in May; then when the sweet corn is harvested in late July, the stalks are replaced by seedlings of broccoli, cabbage, kale and cauliflower for fall harvest.

A couple simple things I do with swisschard:
I cook the stems separately from the leaves as they have slightly different cooking times (might not be necessary, up to you). After washing, the leaves retain a lot of water, that's OK. Saute some garlic in oil, add the wet leaves and some salt. Cover, turn it down a little, stir periodically ( easier to stir as it cooks down) until it's done (sort of like spinach). It's good plain as a vegetable like that or you can add some cooked bacon or sausage or the possibilities are endless. It freezes well, too. Another thing I do is to use the cooked chard in a pie type thing, can mix it with eggs, any kind of cheese including cream cheese, grating cheese etc, and either bake it or even on top of the stove in a heavy skillet like a frittata. You can add anything to that too, onion, other veggies, meats, appropriate leftovers , also that impossible pie recipe with bisquick that you can pretty much put anything in there you want. Tasty veggie, always in my garden!
Judy :x

I forgot, there's usually a lot of juice when it's done cooking, you can eat that along with the chard or I have also used it as a soup stock for veg soup.

Sounds yummy. I think I will try some! Thanks!
I just looked it up and what a beautiful plant - I found one that likes the heat too. I am excited to try it.


Message was edited by: darlingmama

Didn't say: chop the chard up maybe 1 inch or so in strips. Stems maybe a little smaller. I don't cook the leaves whole. :x

I really love kale & it is such a powerhouse of nutrients. Thanks for the tips.