Growing in Adelaide

Best time to plant silverbeet in Adelaide

Beta vulgaris

Also called chard, Swiss chard, silver beet, perpetual spinach, spinach beet

Sow silverbeet in Adelaide in Sep to May.

Silverbeet is a leafy green that shares a species with beetroot, grown for its leaves rather than a root. Blades are green or reddish and stalks mostly red, yellow or white; in Swiss chard types those stalks grow big and are often cooked separately. Cooks have used it for centuries.

When to sow in Adelaide

Adelaide, SA is in the temperate zone. Its months for silverbeet apply here without a frost adjustment.

Matches local guides.

Your local conditions can shift any months shown here, so treat them as a guide.

Frost in Adelaide

Frost usually arrives in Adelaide around mid July and finishes by late July. In about 1 year in 10 it comes as early as early June or as late as early August, so frost-tender crops are planned around those dates.

From its Bureau of Meteorology station, 1991 to 2020, counting a night at 2°C or lower as a frost. Frost hollows and hillsides can shift these dates by weeks, so ask the growers at your garden too.

On a shared plot: suits a plot

Finishes in a season and stays within its space, so it suits most plots.

Growing details

How to start
Sow directly or raise seedlings
Sowing depth
2cm
Plant spacing
20cm
Row spacing
30cm
Height
35cm
Germination
About 14 days
Time to harvest
55 days from sowing
Frost
Semi-hardy, protect from hard frost
Sun
Full sun
Life cycle
biennial

These are typical figures, and varieties differ. Your seed packet takes priority.

Silverbeet elsewhere

Silverbeet across Australia