Flower of the Year 2009, Vegetable of the Year 2005, effective medicinal plant and basis for the coffee substitute Muckefuck - The chicory has many faces. Reason enough to integrate the natural beauty into the planting plan of the cottage garden. The easiest way to do this is by direct sowing, as young plants that have been grown early are not easy to transplant. This guide explains how to do it.
How is chicory planted?
Sowing chicory is best done by direct sowing from May, in a sunny, warm and protected location with normal garden soil. Prepare a fine-crumb seedbed, sow the seeds in furrows 30-40 cm apart and cover them with 2-3 cm of soil. Water and weed regularly.
How to prepare the seedbed in an exemplary manner
If there is no longer any fear of ground frost from May onwards, sowing can take place. Please create a fine, crumbly seedbed in a sunny, warm and protected location with normal garden soil. The soil is thoroughly loosened with the rake. To improve permeability, add some sand. If the soil is very sandy and gravelly, sifted compost compensates for the deficiency.
Sowing chicory - How to do it
In the prepared seedbed, use a stick to make narrow furrows at a distance of 30 to 40 centimeters. How to sow the seeds correctly:
- Spread the seeds in the furrows
- Sift over the dark germs with a 2 to 3 cm layer of soil
- Press the substrate very lightly and water with a fine spray
So that the valuable seeds do not end up in the stomachs of hungry birds and other garden inhabitants, spread a close-meshed protective net (€376.00 at Amazon) over the bed. In the following days and weeks, water regularly and pull out weeds. Once the seedlings have reached a height of 5 to 6 cm, the young chicory plants are separated at a distance of 8 to 10 cm.
Flowers only appear in the second year
The chicory thrives as a biennial plant. In the year of sowing, only a rosette of leaves forms. The following year the sky blue flowers sprout from June to October. The resulting seeds are ideal for propagation, and you can follow these instructions again.
Tip
Various cultivars of chicory provide us with edible crops. Well-known representatives are the subspecies chicory and radicchio; two very he althy vegetables and salad plants for a balanced diet. Since diversity falls by the wayside as a result of one-sided mass production, countless local varieties are threatened with extinction. Growing chicory and its subspecies in your own garden makes a valuable contribution to nature conservation.
