Chicory - Italian Dandelion

DESCRIPTION

This type of chicory is best grown above soil level - not to be confused with radicchio, the Italian dandelion is a long lasting, self seeding, and flexible companion flower, great for attracting bees and other beneficial insects to your garden all year round. It's important to maintain at least some flowers and other habitat in the veggie garden all year round, so that the insects remember where you are! Your patch should never be cleared and left empty. Introducing chicory to your garden makes that job a breeze, because although it eventually dies off, any seeds dropped in the soil will quickly germinate and produce a new generation. As a bonus, you can include the leaves in salads and soups for iron-rich bitter greens, and use the roots to make fragrant chicory coffee.

POT CARE AND PLANTING

The Italian dandelion is easy to care for in a pot - transplant into a larger pot or a garden bed within 7 days. Soil level should be just above the start of the lowest leaves.

WATERING

Chicory is an average water consumer - water it an average amount, once per day (early morning or late afternoon is best in summer). More water will cause insane growth, but too much water will cause the roots to rot away.

SUN EXPOSURE

Chicory only needs about half a day of sun in the warmer months, but loves a good north-facing wall. It can tolerate both drought and frost, so I recommend planting this in an open and sunny area of the garden, but towards the back of your plot, because it'll be quite tall by the end of its life cycle.

COMPANION PLANTING

This plant can get pretty big - maybe 25cm wide, and up to 80cm tall. It will be most helpful to the pollination of cucurbits, solanums, and strawberries, and will also attract beneficial predatory insects when planted near brassicas. Make sure you leave some space for everything to expand.

HARVESTING AND EATING

This type of chicory can be harvested from for quite a while - the leaves and stems are like crunchy lettuce and have a bitter, peppery flavour, becoming more pungent as the plant ages. You can harvest the leaves one at a time, or take the whole plant when you have a larger crop next time. They can be eaten raw in salads, ideally shredded - but also do well in soups, or sautéed with garlic, as cooking mellows the flavour significantly. When the stunning blue chicory flowers emerge, you can use the petals to garnish and decorate salads, drinks, and desserts, or pickle the buds to make something similar to capers. After your chicory has lived a long full life, usually about six months and ending in autumn or spring, carefully loosen the soil around the plant with a stick or spade, in a circle up to 30cm deep. This job might be easier if you trim away the top of the plant first, leaving enough of the leaves for you to grasp and pull, gently wriggling the roots out of the soil - you want to try not to break them! The reward for doing this job well is something special - after washing, chopping, and roasting the roots, you can use them to make caffeine-free chicory coffee and coffee-flavoured syrups and sweets. Store the roasted root pieces in an airtight jar - they last for many years, and you can keep topping up your supply of nature’s decaf. When sweetened, it tastes earthy, caramelised, and slightly bitter - with roots harvested in autumn being sweeter on their own.

SEED SAVING AND PROPAGATION

Chicory can start to flower quickly when the weather is mild - it’s recommended to leave two or three of them on the plant if you want to save some seed. Wait for the selected flowers to finish blooming and dry out on the plant - when the flowers look totally brown, cut them off and dry them in a paper bag. Shake and crunch the dried blooms in the bag to release the curly brown seeds, and discard any larger pieces of material. You can sow some again right away, or save your calendula seeds over the summer in something airtight - they will last for at least 3 years. They're easy to germinate - simply cover with about 1mm of soil and keep moist, when daytime temperatures are starting to cool down towards the end of summer.