Dining and Cooking
Chard or Beets?
In Vegetable Gardening

Chard or Beets?

Thanks to my oh so helpful dog who very considerately dug up my garden for me (the day after I planted seeds), I have plants coming up all over the place instead of in the nice neat rows I had planned. I'm fine with the chaotic garden except for the swiss chard and beets which are all mixed up, and as far as I can tell, identical.

Is there any way to tell the difference other than yanking out a plant to see if there's a beetroot attached to it?

by Glittering_Aside_228

19 Comments

  1. Squishy_Boy

    Just let it ride and find out. You will definitely see the beetroot when it forms because it sticks halfway out of the ground.

  2. ADoorOnTheWall

    Looks like beets to me. You can also wiggle your finger down alongside the stem and feel the shape of the root.

  3. Foodie_love17

    The beet root will start to poke out of the soil when it starts developing.

  5. FriendIndependent240

    So Swiss chard is a beet that forgot how to make beets

  6. mediocre_remnants

    Swiss chard and beets are the same species (*beta vulgaris*) so they can look really similar. Just let them grow, the ones that are beets will be obvious before it’s time to harvest them.

  11. Sarabration911

    Haha EXACTLY the same thing happened in my garden this year with chard and beets and a perfect little pibble. Good luck, us!

  13. Alternative_Year_970

    If it helps, you can eat beet greens and cook them the same as swiss chard.

  14. ahopskipandaheart

    Relatable. I’ve run into that same question in my garden. lol. As others have said, those are beets. At that size, chard would have a thicker rib. I’ve also had beets germinate faster than chard, and chard seed is really easy to accidentally bury too deep.

  16. Square-Tangerine-784

    Beets. I grow them mostly for the greens. Do they taste like beet greens or chard? Raw chard gives my throat a little scratchy feel. Beets are just mild

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