Quality seeds for kitchen, cottage and native gardeners
Vegetable Seeds Catalogue
Raddicchio
Chicory Family – endive, escarole, radicchio, dandelion (Chicorium sp.)
Sds/g: 500-900 Feed Requirements: Low Usual Seed Life: 4 years
Cultural Notes:
- Generally, the chicory family grows best in cool weather (Italian dandelion can be grown successfully year-round though) and frosts enhance their flavour. Hot weather can make them extremely bitter, while frosts make them tastier and less bitter.
- If you love your chicories and want some in spring grow the earlier/faster-maturing varieties, leave the heading varieties for autumn and winter harvest as they are slower growing and will taste very bitter if planted in spring.
- Escarole is the most mild of the chicories. There are leaf and heading varieties.
- Sow seed 1 cm deep in rows 45 cm apart. Thin leaf varieties to 8 – 10 cm. February sowings of heading varieties should be thinned to 45 cm and late March/early April to about 30 cm.
Problems:
- Over-wintered crop may rot or suffer from moulds and mildews if there is a lot of rain, so if you live in a wet area keep them covered or at least well spaced and in a spot with good air circulation.
Harvest:
- Some endives can be blanched by tying the leaves up or placing a box. Harvest leaf as required and for heading varieties harvest when there is a tight head. Harvest all by the end of August.
Sowing periods
A medium, tight, headed radicchio from Italy, where it is valued for the bitter leaves that hold their texture well when cooked. The leaves are wine-red in colour and are used in salads and cooked dishes. The leaves can be used grilled or pan fried with ingredients as it keeps it texture well. Holds well through the winter months. Bitter leaves are great for aiding digestion and a healthy stomach. 75 seeds.
A red, round leaf variety , which forms a heart at ground level during the cooler months. These red-leafed chicories are delicious winter salads from autumn to spring. Their characteristic flavour is slightly bitter and can be modified by blanching.Pick the young leaves when required. They are hardy, deep rooting plants and will need an open position, unfussy about the soil. 100 seeds
A radicchio variety with long, green leaves, turning dark red during the cooler months. These red leafed chicories are delicious winter salads from autumn to spring. Their characteristic flavour is slightly bitter and can be modified by blanching. Pick the young leaves when reqiured. They are hardy, deep rooting plants and will need an open position, unfussy about the soil. 400 seeds