Swiss Chard

I'm planning to grow swiss chard, along with a few other veggies next year. I mentioned this to my neighbour, and he said that swiss chard is a perrenial, so once established you just leave it there and keep picking it right through the growing seasons of several years. That sounds ace to me, but it raises a couple of questions:

Is my neighbour right about it being perennial? I've searched google and everything just says to sow it in spring, but makes no mentioned of it being perennial.

Which leads me to my next question, if it is perennial, do I have to wait until spring, or can I give it a head start by growing it in pots now, bringing them indoors over winter, so I can plant established plants next spring to get a head start?

 

"Sow April to August 1in/2.5cm deep, thin seedlings to 6-9/15-25cm apart." from the marshalls seeds packet.

 

You can sow now (well, maybe September) and plant in a greenhouse for a late Autumn / Winter crop.

I sow mine successionally, but usually the Spring ones battle on. Some have bolted, I cut the flowering spire off and they are still cropping, although I don't think they are as succulent as the ones sown later.

If I didn't have a greenhouse I don;t think I would bother with overwintering to get an early crop, they come fairly early anyway.

I sowed some on 02-Mar. I planted that out on 27-Apr - some in the greenhouse, some outside. The greenhouse ones were started cropping on 15-May, the outdoor ones on 28-May.