"Chard" Lesson

Today's post comes from a tough lesson I recently learned. I would like to mention first, even though I used to garden professionally for the City of Winnipeg, have taken many courses through university and have learned A LOT from not only my Dad but a ton of people I worked with, I obviously do not know everything about the plant world. There is not one person that knows everything about plants, as it is consistently changing, adapting and evolving.

With that being said, I planted the delicious rainbow Swiss chard in my garden this year. This is the first time I planted it in my personal garden. I have maintained it before in a Winnipeg park - shout out to Waterfront/Stephen Juba Park! If you are visiting Winnipeg or you live there and have never been, take a stroll through there. It's always super beautiful! Anyway, I have never had an issue with Swiss chard - until this spring.

I noticed a few leaves were getting “brown and blotchy” and I did the worst thing ever, I ignored it. Fast forward a week and the brown and blotchy leaves are almost on all 15 of my Swiss chard plants. I grab a leaf and turn it over, and see very tiny clusters of leaf miner eggs. *Insert shiver and gag sound* Throughout my 15 plants, I probably had about 200 eggs.

Leaf miners basically are the larva of a flying insect that lives in and eats the tissue of leaves.

What I Did: Removed ALL infected leaves that had the brown/grey blotches. Make sure to destroy those infected leaves - burning them is a great way. Then with any good leaves left, I inspected them and squished any egg clusters. Then I checked them again. Every. Single. Day. Removing more infected leaves and squishing more egg clusters. My Swiss chard patch looked pretty pitiful to be honest, no thanks to my ignorance. However, each day the infestation of leaf miners became less and less. And three weeks later, my plants are looking normal again. An upside to this situation, Swiss chard responds very well to a heavy harvest.

I hope my lesson can be your saving grace if you ever encounter leaf miners. Oh, and check your plants thoroughly when you see a change in their appearance. *Insert palm to face*

"He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son."

Proverbs 10:5

Blessings,

Sarah