Question : Can I plant kale and Swiss chard together ? Would it make common sense to set those together in my vegetable garden ? -Kim M.
Answer : Kale and Swiss chard have like sustenance needs , so they make very suitablecompanion plantsthat can be grown close together or even in the same plantation owner . If you resolve to produce the two together in disjoined container , pick out a pot for each individual plant that ’s at least 12 inch wide . This way , the plants will have mickle of elbow room to stake a title and develop a potent root system of rules so they ’ll be able to get at the wet and food they call for to grow good for you and strong . If you ’ll be set kale and Swiss chard in the same container , you ’ll want one that ’s orotund enough to permit 12 inches of place between the flora , fix rectangular planters or windowpane boxwood specially ideal . Plant these vegetables in a standard potting mix with a pH story between 6.2 and 6.8 that will propose plenty of drain .
Once you have the kale and chard situate in the container you ’ve selected , find a patch for them to grow where they ’ll receive at least six hours of sunlight each solar day . ( Kale can handle partial wraith , but chard plants wo n’t do nearly as well without their full daily dose of sunshine . ) Top the potting mix with one or two inches of a mulch such as straw , compost , pine needles , shredded leave of absence , or ground Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree bark so the soil will stay cool and retain plenty of H2O for the plant .
Every hebdomad to 10 day , you ’ll need to aliment these plants with a urine soluble 8 - 4 - 4 fertilizer mixed into a gallon of pee . urine the plants a bit first , even though the fertilizer is administered in water , so there ’s no risk of their root being burned by the fertilizer . Pour the water transfix with fertilizer into each container until the wet drips from the drainage holes in the bottom — but block up once it drip , and do n’t go on until the water supply is outright flux out of the pot .
Your Brassica oleracea acephala and chard plants require to get between one and one and a one-half inches of H2O per hebdomad , between the rainfall and what you provide them , to stay fully hydrated . If the weather turns especially hot and dry , give the vegetables a piddling extra wet . If you ’re ever incertain whether your gelt and chard plant need more water , only tally the weewee level of the soil at a depth of one inch by stick by a finger into the grease near where the plant are growing to see whether the grease an inch below the surface still feels moist . If it seems dampish or the dirt clings to your pelt , the plants still have piddle useable , and you do n’t need to give them a drink just yet .
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