PlantSowGrowHow to grow Endive (Frisée)
Cichorium endivia
🥕 Vegetable
🌱 Grown each year
Frilly, curly salad leaves with a gentle bitterness. Blanch the heart for a few days before cutting to make it pale and sweet.
At a glance: Sow mid May to mid July, harvest from late July.
When to sow, plant and harvest
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Sow outdoors
Harvest
Timed for a typical UK garden (last frost mid-April). The app uses your own town's frost dates.
Growing Endive (Frisée): what it needs
- Light
- Full sun · 6+ hours a day
- Watering
- Water regularly in dry weather
- Soil
- Fertile, well-drained soil
- Spacing
- 30 cm
- In pots
- Grows well in containers
- Feeding
- A general feed before sowing or planting
- Harvest
- About 85 days from sowing
- Hardiness
- USDA zones 3–9
- Difficulty
- Easy
Step by step
- Mid May – mid July · 4 weeks after the last spring frost
Sow Seeds Outdoors
Sow thinly in drills where they are to grow.
- 5–14 days after “Sow Seeds Outdoors” · Mid May – late May
Check Germination
Seedlings should appear in 5–14 days. If sown outdoors, thin to 30 cm apart when big enough to handle.
- 50–65 days after “Check Germination” · Early July – late July
Blanch the Heart
When plants are full-sized and dry, cover the centre with a plate for 7–10 days to make it pale and less bitter.
- 71–92 days after “Check Germination” · Late July – mid August
Start Harvesting
Cut the whole head once the centre is creamy-yellow.
- 30–60 days after “Start Harvesting” · Late August – late September
Finish and Clear
Clear the remains to the compost heap once cropping ends.
