With care, you can have access to these greens fresh throughout the year. Chard is a robust plant and the leaves can be cut at pretty well any time, except when the plant is seeding. Spinach is more susceptible to frost, so you need to take extra care, especially during clear nights in early Spring.

One excellent attribute of both plants is that they are stoutly disease- and pest-resistant. Not only does this help you if you're growing them yourself, but it means that when bought fresh they're unlikely to have been sprayed with chemicals, even when they're not specifically organic. There aren't any guarantees for supermarket purchases, though!

The leaves are, rather obviously, the part that you eat, but the thicker stem of the chard is rather like celery, and can be eaten alone. Both vegetables are probably best steamed, and not for any great length of time. They're both highly nutritious and you shouldn't neglect their contribution in soups.

While -- like pretty well everything -- they're best eaten fresh, one unusual way of keeping spinach is to chop it finely, mix with a little water and freeze it in an ice-cube tray. If you get the water right, you can even cook from frozen!

There are plenty of recipes available for spinach, but chard is much less prominent -- if you have a recipe to share, let us know through info@nordelph.org.

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