Swiss chard is a must have for me. It'll thrive in the heat of summer, not Texas but it's plenty hot and humid here, and it'll tolerate frost in the fall and freezes to 15 above zero and still be ok. I seed it around 5/10 either waiting for warmer soil or it doesn't tolerate frost when emerging, I forget which. I have grown it into late November (even picking it as late as early December when the ground was frozen) but it's pretty much just holding at that time of the year - even grass stops growing about 11/10 due to the lack of sun. I wouldn't use it as a lettuce substitute tho the very small tender leaves are ok for that. It's more of a spinach substitute, spinach will not tolerate hot weater and bolts fast. I like to steam or saute it and mix it with almost anything you'd cook. Great stuff I love it.
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Oh I found that Ruby Red does not tolerate frost it dies so I stopped growing that chard. My favorite is Argentata.
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Tom
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