Cutting Chicory

Scientific name: Cichorium intybus
Cichorium intybus
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Type:
Annual
USDA hardiness zones:
-

Also known as Italian Dandelion, Leaf Chicory, Spring Chicory or Rosette Chicory.

This quick-growing salad green (some leaves are ready in 3 to 5 weeks from germination) will grow year round, although Cutting Chicory prefers cool weather.

  • Moderately difficult

Sow every 2 weeks for successive harvests directly into the garden from early spring to late summer. Seeds are planted ¼ to ½ inch deep (5 mm to 1 cm) an inch apart (2.5 cm) and later thinned to 6 to 18 inch (15 to 45 cm) spacings depending on the size of the variety you planted. Floating row covers will help ward off early insect outbreaks, 3 or 4 year crop rotations will reduce disease pressure but be sure not to include other mustard or cabbage crops in your rotation. High temperatures and not enough water increase the flavor of the leaves but in conjunction with increasing day length will also cause bolting.

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Gardens with this plant

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Groundskeeper replied almost 3 years ago
Chicory is a big favorite at YourGardenShow! This hearty green can be either cultivated or picked in the wild, and you can use all parts of it! There are multiple kinds of Chicory (check the YGS database for info on 33 varieties), and the leaves from many of these can accompany practically any meat dish in Italy - perhaps thanks to a guild of Italian Chicory growers that has been operating since the 1500s? Over here in the US, Chicory shows up in many places - its root is the secret ingredient in New Orleans coffee!
Groundskeeper replied almost 3 years ago
The Belgians figured out long ago that you can dig up the root in late Autumn (has to be an older plant with a big root), bring it indoors in a cool place, then a warm greenhouse or just a warm spot and fool it into thinking winter is over. Then the roots sends up new shoots, which are a bit like hosta shoots or dragon teeth, made of overlapping, closely clasping young leaves. For ever more finesse some of the shoots are blanched (deprived of light so they don't turn green and bitter). This delicacy is sold for salad in upscale market as Belgian endive, and known also by the French name "chicon." Even a blanched shoot is bitter but in a salad that's 90 percent lettuce a few bits of chicon are very tasty and refreshing.

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