How to Grow Chicory From Seed

Chicory is a cool-season crop, and timing depends on the type. For heading chicories like radicchio and for root chicory, sow in mid to late summer, about 8 to 12 weeks before your first fall frost, so the plants mature as the weather cools and the flavor mellows. Leaf and cutting chicories can also be direct-sown in early spring for a quick pick before summer heat pushes them to bolt. In hot regions, treat chicory mainly as a fall and winter crop; the cool nights are what give you firm heads and sweeter, less bitter leaves.

Direct sow chicory a quarter inch deep in loose, fertile soil in full sun, keep it evenly moist, and look for sprouts in 5 to 12 days. Thin or transplant seedlings to about 8 to 12 inches apart for leaf types and 10 to 12 inches for heading types, giving root chicory deep, stone-free soil so the taproots grow straight. Chicory can be started indoors, but it has a long taproot and resents disturbance, so direct sowing or careful early transplanting works best.

Chicory is not fussy, but steady conditions keep the bitterness in check. Give it about an inch of water a week so growth stays even, and feed lightly for leafy types. Working a little mycorrhizal fungi into the planting hole helps the long roots take up water and nutrients, which is especially useful for root and heading chicory. Watch for slugs, aphids, and leaf miners on young plants, and use row cover where needed. In hot climates like the South, grow chicory in fall and winter to avoid heat-driven bitterness; in cool-summer regions it performs well over a longer season.

Chicory does well in a mixed salad or vegetable bed with neighbors that keep pests down and pollinators around. These three make especially good companions, and you can add any of them in one click:

Harvest depends on the type. Pick leaf and cutting chicory a few outer leaves at a time, cut-and-come-again, once plants have a good rosette. Cut heading chicories like radicchio when the heads feel firm, usually after cool weather and a light frost. For root chicory, dig the thick taproots in late fall once the tops die back. Frost sweetens all of them, so let the cold do some of the work before you pick.

Chicory earns its place with a pleasant bitter edge. Toss young leaves and radicchio into salads to balance rich dressings, grill or roast wedges of radicchio until the edges char and sweeten, or braise the leaves as a side. Belgian endive is crisp and mild for boats and gratins, and the roasted, ground roots of root chicory make a classic caffeine-free coffee substitute. Pair the bitterness with something sweet or fatty, like citrus, nuts, or a good cheese.

• Very bitter leaves: usually heat, drought, or crowding. Grow chicory in cool weather, keep it watered, and blanch or frost-sweeten heading types before harvest.
• Bolting: hot weather and long days make chicory run to flower. Time leaf types for spring or fall and heading types for a fall harvest.
• Loose or soft heads: heading chicory needs cool weather to firm up. Sow for a fall crop and thin plants so each has room to form a tight head.
• Slugs and aphids: they chew young leaves and cluster on shoots. Hand-pick slugs in the evening and blast aphids off with water; row cover protects seedlings.