How I Grew 10x Larger Swiss Chard than I Have Ever Seen 

Holy freakin cow those chard leaves are beyond huge! As I always say John, folks can pick at what you do or how you do it but when you hold up a leaf like THAT....well that pretty much wins without a doubt. You are a gardening machine. Very well done! :)

I purchased 60 pounds of Azomite to add to my garden. I added compost and horse manure in as well. I hope my things look that nice next year!

John I have to say I've been following you for 4 years. Your passion for growing your own food and eating plants in their natural state... not cooked influenced me to do the same. I have now been vegan... mostly raw for nearly 4 years and very proud to say I grow all my own fruit and veg. Thank you for being the catalyst in my life.

John you are a Gardening Wizard!!!!!!!!

That fruit that he called bolivian cucumber is called maxixe (masheeshe) in Brazil. Is popular in the north and northeast of Brazil. It's a ingredient for many typical foods here. We eat the fruit and the leaf. Choose the young leaves for a mild taste. It makes the mouth feel a little numb and people enjoy this feeling. We also use it as a substitute for kale in juices since it is extremely rich in zinc and many other minerals, vitamin C, B complex and beta caroteno. Very good to juice with apples and carrots... oranges, and all other delicious fruits

That swiss chard is ginormous and no bug damage too! You could use it as an umbrella on a rainy day! Dehydrated persimmons sounds good - I've had a lot of dried ones which I don't particularly like the texture of, but if they are completely dehydrates in slices, like chips, I think they would be fantastic.

I'm inspired by your passion to make my own organic garden! Can't wait to plan and setup my own container garden!

As always, your garden is amazing, and that Swiss chard is just ridiculous!

Dear John. I already had the experience of planting Fordhook Giant swisschard, and the results were unbelievable. It produced 2.5 kg of green leaves per month for about 4.5 months. The plantation was completely organic, and the leaves were similar to yours, 80 cm length. What I am more interested to know is the Sweet Gomme tree? I found nothing in the internet that matches the words, can you please identify it more? Thank you and keep the good work.

Swiss Chard is my families favorite Green leafy to grow. In my area is grows so well. We prefer to grow the big white stem verity. And our soil isn't the best but yet is still grows very well.

Wow, this is the first time I have heard of lemon cucumber! I would love to taste it :)

Huge swiss chard plant!!! Squirrels ate all my lemon cucumbers, white cucumbers and popcorn corn last summer

I live in the Abruzzo region of Italy and we get dinosaur chard like that it’s called BIETOLA MAZA. It’s the size of a thigh-high bush.

Hello John, I just want to say thanks again for the heirloom seeds. I received my package about a week ago. I am very appreciative for being one of the free seed give away winners. I have grown and saved seeds from Bhut Jolokia (Ghost peppers) and Chocolate Habanera peppers. The Scotch Bonnet peppers you sent me have been impossible to get for free. I’m eagerly looking forward to the spring so that I can grow my first Scotch Bonnet peppers!! You are a man that has made this planet a little better!!

I love how when your talking about food and your mouth starts watering and you have to stop talking and swallow lol :D 11:48

john you almost cried when you bit into that fig lol........Awsome!

John - that fig was so good it almost made you cry on camera. Man it looks delicious.

Mittleider uses sawdust as part of the growing medium, which is the same thing as wood chips but breaks down faster.

Fordhook Giant White Chard is BY FAR my FAVORITE green! They are so good!!! 😋👍🏼❤️

John the Garden Guru! Another great video brother! My fifty cubic yard pile of wood chips is on year two of slow cold fungus goodness! Thanks for all you do because dreams of a better then good backyard garden have became reality,and grown into a reality of opening an organic farm in the spring! Also,that Azomite is a real game changer,ordered and used all ten 40 lbs bags in my backyard last season and just ordered 50 more for the farm! Thankfully I can get it from an organic farm thirty minutes from my house for they get it by the train load.Again I'm grateful brother,keep up the fight!

You’re right, you could cover an entire family with pico de gallo and wrap them up in that leaf. It is HUGE! 😂 🍃 ✌️Love the info, thanks!

holy swiss chard!!!! wow. i love the bolivian cucumbers!! i grew them this year and they are soooo good and even the lemon ones are really good too!! love you videos!! hope all is well!!

John can you brix test that swiss chard?

john ...luv your videos .....you have too much energy and excitement......

My swiss chard this year was about 2 1/2 feet tall, so pretty close to that size. It's all about the soil.

HAHAHA peek a boo! That leaf is massive!

Wow so nicely grown 👍👍

Wow that was a huge chard leaf :) Thanks for sharing :)

A couple questions for ya John... By the way, not only is that an extremely large chard leaf but, there is NO evidence of pests [holes, spots, etc] at all. Pretty amazing. How do you deal with snails/slugs? Have you ever used Agricola's Mineral Mix [4-8-4] in your soil?

My goodness look at that. I have no words. It is wondrous!

Wow that's crazy how big that leaf is

I grew six plants this year,and the leaves are all that big. Giant stems That are two feet tall from where I harvested. November 19 and the number of leaves has cut back,but not the size. Compost only and they are the biggest I’ve ever had.

Duuuuuudddeee! I was excited about 12 inch chard leaves till I seen this!😂

Bolivian cucumber! I'm gonna have to try that next year

I just love this channel!

Looks like im loading up on the wood chips next spring. Awesome chard.

Wow that is massive!

Figs make my heart sing.

Excellent good block of instruction keep up the good work you are doing rto help us learn from your experience thank you John

Be thankful u can plant different things. Here in Alaska we are stuck with few things to grow.

WoW! Chard Heaven! You GOooo...John!

Thts crazy....I've not ever seen a Swiss shard leaf tht big....omg...it's as big as the whole top of his body.....wow...1❤

The Swiss Chard section had me crying 🤣

Hey John, I love how you taste things as you go in your garden! Your reaction after eating that fig was priceless. Great advice on fruit trees. I have a half acre yard where I'm growing over 60 fruit trees with over 30 in the front yard. I have to grow figs in pots but can't wait to taste a fresh one that I grew myself.

"A wet comb might tame that cowlick. " - Mattie Ross Hey John, started watching your vids last week and I am really enjoying them. Thanks.

Hey John, does the extra large swiss chard taste bitter the larger it gets?

I grew some almost that big a couple years ago. But this year I didn't plan very well so they didn't get going before frost. Great tasting!

so pumped on your chard

I ate Bolivian cucumbers in Ecuador a few years ago. Wasn't sure what they were at the time. Thanks.

That Chard is insane! You should make a video Juicing those massive leaves.

I learned an important thing about Achocha this year: don't grow in pots, it needs to be in the ground. I think I got a pound of seeds, if anyone is Portland, OR is looking for Achocha seeds, please drop me a note!

It hasn't frosted yet in Sonoma? Wow its frosted for several nights here in the South Bay Santa Cruz mountains.

thats awesome thats my favorite to grow but mines always tiny cause me and child eat it before it grows to full potential.

😳 That chard is huge!!!

The Achocha to me is a little reminiscent of Sicyos angulatus or bur cucumber which is considered a noxious weed in some parts of the U.S. Makes you wonder at what point in the stage of selective growing Achocha stands in relation to bur cucumber....

You should sell some of those seeds you harvest, I can only find standard type seeds in stores. I would like to experiment with different varieties for growing here in phx.

Did you get any pawpaws this year off your Asimina triloba, John? I found out about them this year and was able to get my hands on 13 or so pawpaw fruits this year. They taste like bubblegum, really ripe bananas, custard, and really good honey dew melon all mixed together. It was such a beautiful flavour, and they all were tasty. I ate about 3 named varieties at a nursery in Niagara-on-the-lake, Canada, called Grimo nut nursery, forget which varieties they had though, and the other 10 pawpaws were a seed grown variety that was smaller fruit, but still delicious like the bigger medium mango sized named pawpaws. Pawpaws should be called Canadian/American mango, because that's what they look like, and they're only good from the tree. I got over 100 seeds from all the collected fruits, and am going to grow them along with my 7 already planted pawpaws.

I saw your other video. There are so many different wood chip composts out there. Can you be more specific on what type. Redwood, Fur etc?

Wow! That Swiss Chard looks like an alien plant. So cool! Btw - do you need to help pollinate to get those cucumbers to fruit? Mine usually gets flowers but flowers drop afterwards...do you know what it may be lacking?

So, i'm a newbie and I grew my first Swiss Chard plant. For the first time ever, I ate the leaves raw and had to spit it out.. Waaay too bitter to eat raw or in a salad. I tried to juice it, but still way too bitter and had to dump my juice in my compost pile - LOL. I dont know why Swiss Chard is so extremely bitter (maybe its because my diet sucks and I'm not used to eating bitter greens?) I love to eat spinach raw, and Kale, and Beet greens. I wont stop trying and I'll just keep amending my soil with more and more rock dust

Wow, that is truly amazing ... was that from using compost tea? I'm afraid if I saw that in the supermarket I would not have a bag big enough to carry that huge chard. That is truly incredible.

WHOA.... that thing could feed 3 families

is this the New Zealand native spinach coming into view on 12m06sec after the Swiss Chard segment? If so - here on the South Island's East Coast of NZ it grows wild with red coloured leaves in the beachfront sandhills.. In the less hostile environment of a fertile home garden the plant spreads out in a carpet whose green leaves and tips are nothing short of delicious when steamed as a main meal and served with a poached egg on top Di, from NZ

That shard is nuts! lol

Can you do some more stuff about the east coast growing. I am in NC and would appreciate more info on growing in that zone.

That chard was bigger than most rhubarb.. Stoked to see how you dehydrate and hopefully my local gravel hit has rock dust??

I've never seen those giant swiss chard varieties anywhere in Jamaica. It would be nice if we could get the seeds.

Yikes! I could do a *fan* dance behind one of John's chard leaves! :-)

Do you know where to get the achocha seeds? Thanks!

Inspirational!

Wow! The Swiss Chard leaves are bigger than you are! LOL

Hi John, I love your videos but I had one question. I love that you use fungal dominated wood chips but dont leafy greens tend to like bacteria dominated compost? I think that acid loving plants love fungal dominated compost no? I look forward to your input John. Great job!

11:43 You can wrap a child in that.

Wow ! What kind of fertilizer do U use to grow giant Swiss chard ? 👍

cool vid man I like how yo enjoyed eatin that fig lmao

Ill have to try figs..

Great growth and beautiful dark green color! What variety of Swiss chard is that?

JOHN dont let me come cloose to your Fig tree..I have Turkish gray , Turkish Brown, and other Figs ,I have propagated Fiigs soo much have 30 of them in buckets .hoping my Figs that big one day..Gray Figs also Grows slower too more likes hot weather than the cold.they are not very cold hardy at all.

John, I'm so jealous that you can pick the fig off the tree and eat it like that. If I do that with my figs, I get an extra bite of ants. Seeds, ants- they're both crunchy so I guess it really doesn't matter. Anyhow, I've given up trying to keep the ants off the tree. I love figs so I guess this is a good way to keep me from eating them day and night, if at all:)

you've given me something to strive for! thanks! my chard looks good, but not that good.

It's been around -13 degrees Celsius(7 Fahrenheit for you Americans) in British Columbia for a while. Gardening was finished so long ago up here. Jealous of your climate - and your fig tree especially! 14:22 was so damn funny!!

Great job!!! hey man share the details of the "fungal dominated compost" you mentioned please. Thanks bro!

Hey John, it looked like there was someone stealing your produce in the background. Nice Chard!

My Bright Light Swiss Chard did that this year after I added rock dust, kelp and compost tea. I have way too much of it! It has roots that look like small tree trunks!

you can use that leaf as a salad plate and eat the "plate" together.

Chard is the greatest green. Me no like kale or spinach but me love chard.

what do you feed your Swiss chard with?

omg this is amazing something I am going to try in my garden my Silverberg and kale is so tiny 😢

Would love to have links here to where we can buy your recommended brand of each of the products you mention. Thanks!

how do you prevent pests?

WHOA!!!

Ive seen chard like that growing in some runoff area of an aquaponics system.

Hahaha!!! Love it!!!

Middle of October? Does it usually take you that long between filming and uploading?

Is the swiss chard edible? Is it tough?

Now that is some KIK-ASS Swiss Chard WOW!!, great stuff John, I'm using wood chips in my garden for the first year, last season, can't wait to see what I get next season. Frank

Do you believe in compost tea?

Where can you buy the azomite

Where do you get your fungal dominated wood chips or fungal dominated compost? The other video does not answer the above question either. We know we may not be close enough to get some from that company but they or you can tell us where to get the correct fungi so we can do it ourselves.

Buy a freeze dryer. They work great although they use lots of energy.