radicchio 'Rossa Di Treviso'
radicchio or Cichorium intybus 'Rossa Di Treviso'
Delivery options
- Seed Packets (only) £2.95
- Position: full sun
- Soil: moderately fertile, moist but well drained soil
- Rate of growth: fast
- Hardiness: hardy annual
A colourful red chicory (also known as Radicchio) with a tangy taste often used as a winter crop and harvested to eat in autumn and early spring salads. The colour develops as temperatures begin to drop in mid autumn. Rich in many vitamins, ‘Rossa di Treviso’ is a tall-growing ‘non-forcing’ chicory which grows a lot like lettuce culminating in heads of white-veined maroon leaves with thick, pure-white stems. The plant is actually a biennial, but it's often treated as an annual and harvested in its first year of growth.
Keep well watered and apply a liquid fertiliser weekly as the heads start to form. Individual leaves can be picked regularly to add flavour and colour to salads, and whole heads can be harvested once they feel firm to the touch.
Sow seeds direct into a fine tilth, 1.5cm (1”) deep, from April to August. Thin out to 25-30cm apart between plants after germination which takes 1-2 weeks. Earlier plants can be raised under glass from March in good quality seed compost, kept moist and then transplanted to a cooler environment to harden off before planting out after frost have passed.