How to grow chicory for tangy leafy greens to spice up cold season dishes

Chicory is a leafy vegetable that looks like lettuce but tastes more bitter. It is a hearty cool-weather crop that can bring an earthy bite to salads, stir-fries, and other dishes during fall and winter.

There are different types of chicory to grow, coming in varying colors, leaf shapes, and flavors. Some varieties are solely grown for the leafy heads, but others are cultivated for the roots and can be forced for harvests of sweeter young leaves.

It is simple to grow chicory in a backyard vegetable garden for a crop of bitter leafy greens to add extra flavor, texture, and color to salads. Chicory seeds are widely available and this guide looks at all you need to know to grow chicory successfully from seed to harvest.

What is chicory?

Chicory is a cool-season vegetable characterized by slightly bitter flavors. Also known as Italian dandelion, Belgian endive, and French endive, chicory comes in different types - red chicory (also known as radicchio), sugarloaf, and forcing chicory. The two most common types grown in vegetable gardens are attractive red-leafed radicchio and witloof, a light green forcing chicory.

Chicory seeds are commonly available in garden centers or online. Once you have decided on the type to grow, the next step in knowing how to grow chicory is where and when to sow seeds:

How to grow chicory from seed

Chicory wants to grow in a sunny spot in a well-draining soil type with a pH of 6-7.5. It is a crop best suited to cooler climates as it thrives growing between 50-75ºF. When temperatures rise above 75ºF the growth slows, while the crop’s flavor changes and plants start to bolt and go to seed.

Chicory seeds for forcing should be sown outdoors in the early to mid-spring, while non-forcing varieties can be sown from mid-spring to early summer. Sow seeds outdoors a half-inch deep in rows 12 inches apart and thin plants to at least eight inches apart as they develop.

Growers in colder climates can start vegetable seeds indoors to get ahead. Sow seeds indoors into large module trays filled with good seed-starting compost and keep them at a temperature of 65-70ºF in a heated propagator or on a warm windowsill for good germination. Transplant seedlings out into the garden once the risk of frost has passed.

A second sowing is also possible for later harvests. Either sow a fast-maturing type in summer for a late fall harvest outdoors or sow seeds in mid-to-late summer to transplant seedlings undercover - as you can grow the crop in a greenhouse in the fall. It is recommended that summer sowings are done indoors, as germination can be erratic outdoors during the hotter months.

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How to grow chicory - care tips

Keep chicory well-watered throughout the growing season. It is vital to water young plants regularly and keep the soil moist during summer, as a lack of moisture can affect the flavor and cause chicory to bolt. When you water plants, water the soil rather than watering the chicory from above as wet foliage can cause fungal diseases.

Mulching around plants with a two-inch thick layer of compost, leaf mold, or straw can help retain moisture in the soil and suppress competition from weeds for water and nutrients. Take time to get rid of weeds from around the chicory plants, it is an important care task as the crop does not like competition. Carefully running around rows with a garden hoe is an ideal way to remove any young weed seedlings.

Chicory does not require lots of fertilizing. Adding organic matter, including compost or well-rotted manure, to the planting site before sowing will enrich the soil. Around a month after transplanting, or once the seedlings are large enough to thin, feed plants with a quarter-cup of high-nitrogen fertilizer, such as this natural organic 12-0-0 blood meal from Burpee.

Chicory is susceptible to damage from slugs and snails, that will nibble holes in the leaves. Placing rough surfaces, such as crumbled eggshells or grit, around plants or using beer traps are two good slug control methods to stop them from troubling plants. Encouraging lots of beneficial wildlife is also a good way to get rid of slugs as many garden visitors will eat the pests.

How to harvest chicory

Non-forcing types of chicory are harvested once the hearts form and the head reaches full size. Alternatively, the plants can be harvested as baby cut-and-come-again leaves for summer salads - but most growers let the heads develop to maturity and harvest from late summer onwards.

Lift the head once it reaches the desired size and is firm, which can be 10-12 weeks from the seeds germinating depending on the particular variety. Waiting too long to crop is a harvesting mistake as the chicory can get tough and bitter. Use a sharp knife to cut the head just above ground level. Leave the stump in the ground and it may develop a second, smaller head to harvest later.

The process of harvesting forcing types of chicory is a bit more complicated. Ashleigh Smith, managing editor of True Leaf Market, recommends harvesting the roots by digging the plant from September to December before preparing them for forcing for chicons - the name for the forced new growth.

‘The root should be swathed and allowed to dry. After drying, remove the tops,’ says Ashleigh. ‘Store until you can use the roots as a coffee substitute or force them to produce chicons.’

The dried roots can be planted in pots filled with compost and covered with a bucket. Keep the pot in complete darkness and somewhere cool at 50–60°F. Ashleigh Smith says it should take ‘20-30 days’ to produce chicons around six inches tall. She adds: ‘The leaves can be harvested as you would cos or romaine lettuce by cutting the head.’

Ashleigh Smith

Ashleigh Smith is the Managing Editor at True Leaf Market with a bachelor's degree in horticulture from Brigham Young University - Idaho. True Leaf Market is a nationally certified organic, non-GMO seed and horticultural company based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

FAQs

What is the life cycle of chicory?

Chicory is a biennial plant, but commonly grown as an annual plant in vegetable gardens. As a biennial plant, it has a two-year growing cycle. It produces a leafy head in the first year and then, after winter dormancy, flowers and sets seed in year two. Chicory left over winter in a vegetable garden will start to grow again in spring and go to flower.

There are many different related types of chicory. Some, as mentioned above, are grown for salad leaves, while others are biennial or perennial herbaceous plants that grow blue flowers. These flowers open in the morning and close later that same day. Common chicory, or wild chicory, is native to Africa, Asia and Europe, but has spread worldwide and is now classed as a harmful weed in some US states.