The gardening year is in full swing when endive salad joins in. Thanks to its high resistance to cold, the harvest lasts until November. Our instructions show you how to plant the late bloomer professionally.
How do you grow endive?
Endive salad can either be grown in pots or sown directly into the bed. Make sure you have a sunny location, humus-rich, nutrient-rich soil and a pH value of 6.5 to 7. If you sow directly, sow in early July at 30-40 cm spacings and 2 cm deep. When growing in pots, start at the beginning of June.
Is growing endive worth it?
If you want to use your vegetable patch as efficiently as possible, you tend to grow them in pots. This has the advantage that other vegetables can ripen in peace in the bed. Meanwhile, the endive salad is already gaining a head start in growth, including an early harvest.
- At the beginning of June, fill small pots with potting soil and plant 2-3 seeds 2 cm deep in each one
- keep constantly moist in a partially shaded place
- After germination, the strongest plant remains in the pot
What site conditions should you pay attention to?
Endive salad wants to soak up as much sun as possible. The less often the plant is in the shade, the richer it develops. The soil should be humus, nutrient-rich and fresh. A pH value of 6.5 to 7 is ideal.
What instructions are used for direct sowing?
The time window for direct sowing opens at the beginning of July. Rake the bed deeply and weed thoroughly. A seed furrow is made with the handle of the rake. The seeds go in there at a distance of 30-40 cm, to a depth of 2 cm.
Watering is preferably done using a watering can (€17.00 on Amazon) and shower attachment. It makes sense to protect the sowing with a fine-mesh net. Constant moisture combined with repeated application of compost allows endive to sprout happily.
Which plant neighbors are suitable for mixed cultivation?
Endive maintains a good neighborhood with the following plants: Chinese cabbage, beans, lamb's lettuce, spinach, kohlrabi, fennel and leek.
Since endive develops a very high nitrate content, the culture should only colonize the same bed every three years.
How do the endive leaves stay appetizingly white?
To keep the endive leaves tender and white, loosely tie each head together a few days before harvesting. Preferably you should also lay garden fleece over it. However, it should be borne in mind that the risk of rot increases.
When and how should endive be harvested?
The endive salad takes around 12 weeks to ripen. The harvest season begins in August. On a dry day, pull the head of lettuce out of the ground along with the roots.
If the first frosty nights threaten, protect the endive salad with foil. Varieties with smooth leaf edges can withstand temperatures down to -5 degrees Celsius.
Tips & Tricks
If you sow again and again every 3 weeks from the beginning of the season, you will harvest crisp, fresh endive salad without interruption until the beginning of winter.