Sweeter Chard Breeding Project

[bower]

The first real taste test of full grown sweeter chard here will happen in the next few days, as my son is coming to visit. Great excuse to break out the new greens! (and besides, we're out of iceberg lettuce.)

[bower]

A very late update on this project!
I didn't have any luck recruiting or corralling chard tasters, so it was up to me.
Many of the selected plants eventually developed bitterness in the greenhouse heat - the worst of those were de-selected/ culled. I put a couple out in a bed with some skirrett, in hopes that they would deter predator animals, and I think it may have worked. So there may be a use for bitter chard out there... Also in the heat of the greenhouse, it became harder to tell any difference in color. What appeared two shades of orange and two shades of yellow got more and more intense and couldn't be told apart. (I read the same comment from a chard breeder, that color phenos couldn't be certain in greenhouse conditions).
Besides the stress of summer heat, these chardy F1s stayed in smallish pots after moving out to the yard, and that was enough for all of the red shaded chards to bolt. Disappointing because one of those reds had incredibly sweet stems, even after the leaves were bitter inedible. I did save some seeds possibly to use for a fast baby green, but bolters aren't keepers in this project.
Anyhow, at the end of season I had a group of unbolted yellows and one unbolted white/pink blushed stem with a fabulous sized root. I picked the biggest roots/most vigorous and healthiest looking yellows to keep overwinter as well for next year's seed. Here they are in November: I did finally pot them up in late december in the greenhouse.

Chard-SB-F2-nonbolters-162.JPG

Chard-SB-F2-Rosebud-root-145.JPG

So: revisiting my confusion about the genetics - I should still get some red shade F2 if I keep them together, and " Rosebud " flowering overlaps with the yellows. Or I could keep them separated.
The Rosebud project would be stable for color in that case (RRyy), and I could just select for other traits: sweetness being number one and of course I like the large root too, for possibly a dual purpose crop.
The yellow plants are Yyrr or YYrr. So if kept separately, I might see a difference in how the yellow color develops over a season, depending on YY vs Yy. It definitely seemed that they were pale in the first leaves and only became dark yellow as the season went on.
Either way, it's enough to have one Y, a cross between RRyy and Yyrr should produce some pink or orange F1s among the F2s.

Ideally I think I'd like to do both, which might be easy enough since the flowering time is quite long (and maybe not exactly simultaneous, just overlapping). So I can keep Rosebud F2 seeds separate from mixed crosses with the yellow.

[Tormahto]

I'll be attempting a grow out of your seed, this year.

Last year, I had very little room. So, I don't believe that I would have had enough plants to do a good comparison of different traits.

I also will likely need to cover the seeds with chicken wire or hardware cloth. For some reason, squirrels take a liking to beet and chard seed, in my garden.

[Shule]

A great project, Bower.

And, having Julianna's children, who will give the MOST honest opinion, is clearly the way to go.

My own project can't get off the ground. I have Verde de Taglio seeds collecting dust for a year, while I try to find MacGregor's Favorite to make a cross with.

If there is ever any spare F1, F2 , seed, etc... from your project, you know how to find me.

And, where am I going to sow the 1,000+ seeds of Diverse/Perennial/Multiplier shallots? I'd better do a test germination, first, to see what I've gotten into.

I made little frittata bites yesterday and Zain loved them and Adam the older one said it was gross. Then later on that day he asked me what would.it taste like if you mixed milk and diet pepsi. I said "gross" to which he replied "oh like your frittata?" So he can be the ultimate judge.

I think that I remember what milk and regular pepsi tastes like, from 50+ years ago.

There's gross (milk and Dr Pepper), not that good (milk and Pepsi, milk and Coke, milk and grape soda), and excellent (milk and root beer, milk and orange soda). You're raising a champ.

I don't know what a frittata is.

I don't know what frittata bites are (yet), but frittatas are what I used to think were omelets. They're basically like thick omelets where you broil some tomatoes, cheese, and stuff on them after getting the eggs started on the stove. The broiling finishes cooking the eggs. If either of you two want to try my Frittata Kitchen tomato, let me know; it's my favorite frittata tomato. (It's a sport of Bloody Butcher; the fruit tastes different, but the plant, growth habit, and such are the same.) Wonderberries are excellent (paired with tomatoes) in frittatas, too. Green onions and mushrooms are also great. The best frittata tomatoes seem to be the tart early red 4-6 oz ones. I know Tormato isn't into red tomatoes, though. Other colors can work (but you probably want to use ones with a tart flavor, or tart tones).

IMO, frittatas are a lot better with plenty of salt, added during the cooking (not after).

[Shule]

@bower That's awesome that you're letting moose help with your swiss chard.

[Tormahto]

A great project, Bower.

And, having Julianna's children, who will give the MOST honest opinion, is clearly the way to go.

My own project can't get off the ground. I have Verde de Taglio seeds collecting dust for a year, while I try to find MacGregor's Favorite to make a cross with.

If there is ever any spare F1, F2 , seed, etc... from your project, you know how to find me.

And, where am I going to sow the 1,000+ seeds of Diverse/Perennial/Multiplier shallots? I'd better do a test germination, first, to see what I've gotten into.

I made little frittata bites yesterday and Zain loved them and Adam the older one said it was gross. Then later on that day he asked me what would.it taste like if you mixed milk and diet pepsi. I said "gross" to which he replied "oh like your frittata?" So he can be the ultimate judge.

I think that I remember what milk and regular pepsi tastes like, from 50+ years ago.

There's gross (milk and Dr Pepper), not that good (milk and Pepsi, milk and Coke, milk and grape soda), and excellent (milk and root beer, milk and orange soda). You're raising a champ.

I don't know what a frittata is.

I don't know what frittata bites are (yet), but frittatas are what I used to think were omelets. They're basically like thick omelets where you broil some tomatoes, cheese, and stuff on them after getting the eggs started on the stove. The broiling finishes cooking the eggs. If either of you two want to try my Frittata Kitchen tomato, let me know; it's my favorite frittata tomato. (It's a sport of Bloody Butcher; the fruit tastes different, but the plant, growth habit, and such are the same.) Wonderberries are excellent (paired with tomatoes) in frittatas, too. Green onions and mushrooms are also great. The best frittata tomatoes seem to be the tart early red 4-6 oz ones. I know Tormato isn't into red tomatoes, though. Other colors can work (but you probably want to use ones with a tart flavor, or tart tones).

IMO, frittatas are a lot better with plenty of salt, added during the cooking (not after).

Hey...of all of the reds out there, I like about half a dozen of them. Neves Azorean Red, Bulgarian Triumph, Bacon Lettuce and This, (Good) Old Fashioned Red, are examples. And, I like basically all of the red hearts that I've trialed.

Carolyn used to talk about Indian varieties for cooking. Most are said to be sour/tart. The only one that comes to mind is Pusa Ruby. But, I haven't seen any seeds for several years.

[bower]

@Shule if they can get past the seed stage, maybe @Tormato 's squirrels will be taste testers too...

[Tormahto]

@Shule if they can get past the seed stage, maybe @Tormato 's squirrels will be taste testers too...

We've got both grey and black squirrels, locally. Both like the seeds. The only seedlings they've ever liked were MacGregor's Favorite. I've been looking for that variety for about 5 years, but it looks like it has fallen off the planet.

All of the local squirrels are fat and happy, because so many people in the city feed them, trying to attract the black ones. I attract them all, without trying.

[Julianna]

It has been raining like crazy on and off and i need to check the chard! It was doing well. I had a white stemmed one and a red that survived the culls.

[greenthumbomaha]

Bower, I haven't been visiting this thread regularly. My volunteer donation garden grows a lot of this, I don't care for it. The do one sowing for the entire summer and harvest long past it gets straggly and bitter. That will be changing, hopefully.

At my country garden, a friend of my son's from hs joined me early in the season. It was wonderful to have company and teach her the ropes. Towards fall I planted a few Bright Lights and Rhubarb, and Ruby Red from my seed library to be attrctive and build soil in a new, mostly peat moss 4X4 raised bed. My companion thought it was okay raw. I never pulled it, just limited cuts, but I did not see a bulb above ground like you grew. Was that a cross with a beet?
You mentioned sweet red stems. Rhubarb (I think, didn't label) had very strong stems, compared to the other neighboring colors, even in the Bright Lights group. I can't attest to the flavor. If you are still trialing, just give me a shout out for the two red variety seeds.

- Lisa

Edit: Now I see I missed reading the important first 2 pages. Aargh , senior moment.

[PNW_D]

Swiss Chard MacGregors Red.png

if anyone is still searching for Swiss Chard MacGregors Red

[Tormato]

Swiss Chard MacGregors Red.pngif anyone is still searching for Swiss Chard MacGregors Red

Moi.

Thanks D, for the link.

That company is in the US, so I'll likely place an order. Is it what I'm looking for? Unknown. Is MacGregor's Red the same as MacGregor's Favourite?

Some list it as McGregor's, others MacGregor's, Favorite or Favourite, beet or chard. Most say that it basically disappeared in 2018, and now is back. There is also a UK preservation organization that now has it, too. I'll try to contact them to see if they can ship seeds internationally.

P.S. One of the Lilly crosses was the best tasting tomato in my garden in 2024. I'll likely be asking you about the availability of seeds for all of the Lillian's crosses that you made. Oh, I guess I just did.

[PNW_D]

good luck on the MacGregor's search

excellent news re your Lilly tomato grow out ...... just to clarify ...... nctomatoman shared F1 seeds with me in 2020, and I've been growing/selecting since then ..... cross is Lillian's Yellow Heirloom x Dwarf Speckled Heart F1

just digging around in my seed stash now ...... will touch base shortly

[bower]

@greenthumbomaha Lisa, thanks for the offer. Rhubarb red and Bright Lights yellow were original parents, so we're good. I did get seeds of my three survivors, ready for the next generation in 2025.
I'm not sure whether the large bulb (from sugar beet parent) actually helps to reduce stress on the plants and keep them non bitter, but I think at least it helped to keep them from bolting in heat/dry/small pot stress.
One thing Julianna and I were discussing is, how the F2 seemed to have some seedlings more bitter than the parents - maybe a stacking of the worst QTL's from both sides. So I'm really hoping to see less of that in the next generation. Not planning any side crosses myself, due to the long (2 year) generation time, and probably having to cull hard again this season after letting this generation backcross again, with the same effect ie some plants will have the worst QTL's from both parents stacked in. But Julianna may have some side crosses going forward with better chard parent material into the mix, that might produce the sweetest of all.