Edible garden: Silverbeet

Silverbeet is not only good for you, it looks good in your garden too. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times

How to grow it:

Silverbeet is the easiest winter green to grow by far and a good kitchen basic which can be added to a wide range of dishes.

Luckily for us, we can now get all sorts of colourful cultivars of silverbeet, also known as Swiss chard.

"Ruby" and "Rainbow" chards may not be as vigorous as their dark green and white-stemmed counterpart, but you could fool the kids by not calling them silverbeet at all, and they are quite glamorous - I've seen them in colourful town centre gardens.

Silverbeet can be planted throughout the year, but it makes sense to time it for winter picking when other greens are few and far between.

What to cook with it:

Silverbeet works well in a number of dishes.

My partner's favourite is the Greek dish spanakopita, which is essentially egg, silverbeet and feta cheese encased in layers of crispy, buttery filo pastry (he makes it well, too).