Cichorium endivia seed
LATIN NAME: Cichorium endivia
COMMON NAME: Endive
The endive is the crisp, curled green of the cool salad bed, and the small, blue-lilac, daisy-like heads open in the second season. The low, rosette-forming, annual or biennial plant carries the deeply cut, curled, frilled leaves of the pale green and the small, blue-lilac, daisy-like heads on the branched stalks through the early summer, one of the fine, bright sights of the cool kitchen garden. The young leaves have a long record as the crisp, slightly bitter green of the salad bowl, and the plant is a fine, generous presence of the cool vegetable garden. It is a plant of the open, sunny, rich, moist, well-drained ground.
Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology
The endive is a useful subject of the plant science, and the blue-lilac heads keep showing up in the work on the chicory group. The breeding of the endives for the crisp, frilled leaves and the mild, bitter taste has been studied closely, and it keeps appearing in the studies of the leafy salad crops, the chicories and the members of the daisy family. The deeply cut, curled leaves and the low, rosette habit have also made it a fine crop plant, and the endive is a regular subject of the work on the crisp greens of the cool world.
Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications
The endive is a fine, generous plant of the cool vegetable garden. The deeply cut, curled, frilled leaves have a long record as the crisp, slightly bitter green of the salad bowl, tossed into the salads with the oil and the lemon, and the small, blue-lilac, daisy-like heads follow in the second season as the fine, bright bonus of the seed bed. The plant grows fast on the cool, rich ground, and it is one of the fine choices for the cool salad bed, the autumn crop and the vegetable garden. It has been written about in the culinary and the agricultural papers for the crisp, frilled leaves and the cool-season ways, and it is a fine, generous plant of the open, sunny, rich, moist, well-drained garden.
Sow in the small successions through the cool season, and the crisp hearts will come along for weeks.
To grow the endive from seed, sow the small, flat seeds over the surface of a pot of fine seed compost, pressing them in, keep the pot in a bright, open spot and water gently, then set the young plants out in the cool ground. The seedlings come through within a few days and grow on fast. With the sun and the rich, moist ground, the crisp leaves will come through the cool season.
Description:
NAME: Emerald Catalogna Endive
OTHER COMMON NAMES: Chicory / Chicory Greens / Italian Dandelion
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Cichorium Endivia
COLOR: Emerald Green Leaves
PLANT SEEDS: Outdoors after frost / Indoors weeks before last frost
HARVEST: 50 Days
HARDINESS ZONE: Annual
PLANT HEIGHT: 9 – 12″
PLANT SPACING: 12″
LIGHT REQUIREMENTS: Sun
SOIL & WATER PREFERENCES: Average
OTHER: Emerald Catalogna has dandelion shaped leaves. They are tender & mild with a slightly bitterness, and an asparagus like flavor. The baby leaves are great in salads (mesclun) or cooked. The plants are fast growing & like cool weather. They can be sown from seed for spring or fall crops, & can overwinter in warmer climates.