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Spicy
salad mix
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If you can’t face
another boring green salad, these three fantastic leaves will perk up your
palate and your plate with their distinctive flavors and colorful leaves.
Chicory is famously bitter; orach tastes a little like salty spinach; and
sorrel has a mild citrus flavor. You’d be hard pressed to find the last two
in a supermarket, but luckily they are easy to grow.
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Chicory
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Plant
used
Chicory ‘Treviso Precoce Mesola’
Exposure
Full sun
Temperature
needs
Fully hardy
Harvesting
period
Summer to winter
Suitable
pot size
18in (45cm)
Suitable
container material
Terra-cotta, plastic, glazed ceramic
Compost
type
Multi-purpose compos
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Chicory is famed
for its bitter leaves, and there are three types available. Sugarloaf and red
chicory, which is better known as radicchio, are grown for their leaves,
while Belgian or Witloof forcing chicory produces tender white hearts, known
as “chicons”, when deprived of light.
All seeds are started
the same way. Sow them thinly across the surface of a pot filled with seed compost
and cover with ½in (1cm) of sieved compost. Water and place in a sunny site.
When seedlings have a few leaves, transplant three into an 18in (45cm) pot.
Spring sowings provide summer leaves, while seeds sown in the summer will be
ready from fall through winter
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TOP TIP: BLANCHING
CHICORY
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Once forcing
chicory has developed a good head of leaves in late autumn, cut the tops off,
leaving a 2in (5cm) stump. Water plants well, then cover the stumps with an
upturned bucket to exclude any light, and stand in a frost-free place. Your
blanched chicons will be ready to harvest after a month
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