Vegetable / Shoulder season
Bright Lights Swiss Chard
Long-season leafy crop for containers and visible beds.
Mild beet-family greens with colorful stems.
Seed spacing and maturity
- Days to maturity
- 55
- Germination temperature
- 50-85F
- Seed depth
- 0.5 inches
- Spacing
- 12 inches
- Row spacing
- 18 inches
- Start method
- Either
Frost-date timing
- Indoor start
- 4 weeks before last frost
- Direct sow
- 14 days before last frost
- Transplant
- on last frost
- Fall planting
- 9 weeks before first frost
- Succession interval
- repeat every 28 days
Action plan
- Can I plant this now?
- Use your local last-frost, first-frost, and soil-temperature checks before treating this crop as plantable today.
- Start indoors or direct sow?
- Direct sow or transplant depending on your soil warmth, bed readiness, and frost-risk plan.
- How much space?
- 12 inches in-row spacing, 18 inches between rows, and 0.5 inch seed depth.
- Best companions?
- Use crop-family rotation first, then pair with compatible timing, spacing, and canopy size rather than relying on a simple companion chart.
- Common failure modes?
- Letting plants dry out reduces tenderness. Even moisture improves leaf quality. Fertile soil with good drainage.
Is it still worth sowing this year?
Every region this site covers (Texas, North Florida, Central Maryland, New York City and York County, PA) publishes a swiss chard planting window, so the answer for this variety is already dated. No other region is covered yet.
- Texas sow-by date for Bright Lights Swiss Chard AgriLife lists swiss chard for Texas (AgriLife Region III); the page measures that window against this variety's 55 days to maturity and the region's first frost date.
- What North Florida gardeners can still sow, Bright Lights Swiss Chard included UF/IFAS lists swiss chard for North Florida; the page measures that window against this variety's 55 days to maturity and the region's first frost date.
- Central Maryland sow-by date for Bright Lights Swiss Chard UMD Extension lists swiss chard for Central Maryland; the page measures that window against this variety's 55 days to maturity and the region's first frost date.
- What New York City gardeners can still sow, Bright Lights Swiss Chard included Cornell CCE lists swiss chard for the New York City area; the page measures that window against this variety's 55 days to maturity and the region's first frost date.
- York County, PA sow-by date for Bright Lights Swiss Chard Penn State Extension lists swiss chard for York County, Pennsylvania; the page measures that window against this variety's 55 days to maturity and the region's first frost date.
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade
- Water
- Even moisture improves leaf quality.
- Soil
- Fertile soil with good drainage.
- Watch
- Letting plants dry out reduces tenderness.
- greens
- containers
- heat-tolerant
- cut-and-come-again
Browse context
- Vegetable Catalog Category collection
- Amaranth Family Rotation and family context
- Shoulder Season Seeds Season collection
- Either Seeds Start-method collection
- Container-Friendly Seeds Practical trait collection
- Beginner-Friendly Seeds Practical trait collection
- Succession Sowing Seeds Practical trait collection
- Quick-Maturity Seeds Practical trait collection
- Fall-Planting Seeds Practical trait collection
- Part-Shade-Tolerant Seeds Practical trait collection
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