PlantSowGrow
How to grow Radicchio (Palla Rossa)
Cichorium intybus
🥕 Vegetable
🌱 Grown each year
Round, deep-red chicory heads with a pleasantly bitter bite — for salads and grilling. Turns redder as the weather cools.
At a glance: Sow mid June to late July, harvest from mid September.
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 Radicchio (Palla Rossa): 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 70 days from sowing
- Hardiness
- USDA zones 3–9
- Difficulty
- Easy
Step by step
- Mid June – late July · 9 weeks after the last spring frost
Sow Seeds Outdoors
Sow thinly in drills where they are to grow. Sow in midsummer — spring sowings bolt.
- 5–14 days after “Sow Seeds Outdoors” · Mid June – late June
Check Germination
Seedlings should appear in 5–14 days. If sown outdoors, thin to 30 cm apart when big enough to handle.
- Mid September – mid December · 4 weeks before the first autumn frost
Start Harvesting
Cut heads when firm; light frost improves the colour and sweetness.
- 60–90 days after “Start Harvesting” · Mid November – mid December
Finish and Clear
Clear the remains to the compost heap once cropping ends.
