Endive & Escarole
Cichorium endivia
Asteraceae · sunflower family
Origin · Mediterranean · Western Asia
- Matures
- 2–3 months
- Harvest
- Over a period · Annual
- Sun
- 4–8 hrs
- Spacing
- 8–12 in
Planting window
When to sow, by microclimate — foggier blocks run a different calendar than sunnier ones.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foggy | ◐ | ● | ● | ◐ | ◐ | |
| Sunny | ◐ | ● | ● | ◐ |
| Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foggy | ● | ● | ● | ◐ | ◐ | |
| Sunny | ◐ | ● | ● | ◐ | ◐ |
Sunlight
How well it does at each level of direct sun per day.
Soil depth
Root room it needs — useful for sizing raised beds and containers.
Soil pH
The soil acidity it grows best in — most crops sit just below neutral, so this mostly matters for heavily amended or long-reused beds.
- Preferred range
- pH 6.0–6.5
Spacing
Room each plant needs — along the row and between rows — for sizing beds.
- In-row
- 8–12 in
- Between rows
- 12–18 in
Growth habit
The shape it makes in the bed and how tall it gets — what tells you whether to give it a trellis, a stake, or just room.
- Habit
- Low mound
- Mature height
- 0.5–2 ft
Low and self-supporting — no staking needed.
Growing in containers
Whether it does well in a pot, planter, or window box — the SF balcony-and-deck question, weighing its footprint, form, and staying power, not just root depth.
Happy in a pot, planter, or window box — no garden bed required.
How to start it
Sow it where it grows, or raise it under cover and set it out — and how far ahead to start the seedlings if it's the latter.
- Usually
- Direct-sow
- Start indoors
- 6 weeks ahead
Sown straight into the bed it will grow in.
Getting started
How it goes in the ground — how deep to sow or set it, and the soil temperature it needs to wake up. The cold-soil floor is the real limiter for direct-sowing in a foggy SF spring.
- Started from
- From seed
- Ideal soil temp
- 75°F
- Sow depth
- 0.25 in
- Time to emerge
- 5–7 days
Germinates between 35–85°F; happiest around 75°F.
Watering & feeding
How thirsty and how hungry it is — the water it wants and how much feeding the bed needs to keep it producing. In the fog belt even a thirsty crop drinks less than it would inland.
- Water need
- Moderate
- Feeding
- Moderate feeder
Wants steady, even moisture — roughly an inch a week, a little more in a heat spell.
A balanced feed worked into the bed at planting usually carries it through the season.
Keep the soil uniformly moist — drought slows the leaves and turns them bitter. A moderate feeder.
Pests & diseases
What tends to trouble this crop — what it is, what you'll see, and what to do about it, least-toxic first.
Cornell's endive guide names aphids as the pest of note. Snails and slugs are the practical SF problem on any low salad-green rosette. Curly frisée types hold water in their leaves and are more prone to leaf rots than broad-leaved escarole — keep heads dry, especially while blanching.
Pests2
Aphids
- What it is
- Aphids have soft pear-shaped bodies with long legs and antennae and may be green, yellow, brown, red, or black depending on the species and the plants they feed on. A few species appear waxy or woolly due to the secretion of a waxy white or gray substance over their body surface.
- What you'll see
- Low to moderate numbers of leaf-feeding aphids aren't usually damaging in gardens or on trees. However, large populations can turn leaves yellow and stunt shoots; aphids can also produce large quantities of a sticky exudate known as honeydew, which often turns black with the growth of a sooty mold fungus.
- What to do
- Before planting vegetables, check surrounding areas for sources of aphids and remove these sources. On the other hand, these aphid-infested weeds can sometimes provide an early source of aphid natural enemies.
Snails and Slugs
- What you'll see
- Snails and slugs feed on a variety of living plants and on decaying plant matter. They create irregular holes with smooth edges on leaves and flowers by scraping with their rasp-like tongues.
- What to do
- It will not be possible to eliminate some shelters, such as low ledges on fences, the undersides of wooden decks, and water meter boxes, so make a regular practice of trapping and removing snails and slugs from these areas. The survivors congregate in the remaining shelters, where you can more easily locate and remove them.
Harvest & storage
How to tell it's ready to pick, and how to keep it once it's in.
- Keeps
- WeeksHolds a week or two in the fridge.
- Ready to harvest
- Cut escarole and endive at 5-6 in; cut above the soil line and the crown will regrow. Endive can be blanched for a milder heart.
- Storing
- Refrigerate in the crisper; the heads keep a week or two.
Culinary use & nutrition
What it's for in the kitchen, and the nutrients a 100 g raw serving is a notable source of.
In the kitchen
- Raw
- Boiled / steamed
Nutrition highlights
- Excellent source
- Vitamin K, Folate
- Good source
- Manganese, Vitamin A, Copper, Fiber
Share of the Daily Value in a 100 g raw serving (USDA FoodData Central).
Pollinators & wildlife
What this crop offers the garden's wildlife once it flowers — often the payoff for letting a bolting plant stand.
No notable draw for pollinators — its flowers offer them little.
Endive is self-pollinating: its pale blue flowers see to themselves, and no source credits them with drawing insects the way its chicory cousin's do. You would also have to carry a plant months past a leaf harvest to get one to open.
Sources
Growing data on this page is drawn from NC State Extension — Plant Toolbox, UC Master Gardeners, Contra Costa County, and the other references on our sources page.