How to Grow Endive
Endive At a Glance
Difficulty
Moderate
Category
Vegetable
Sun Exposure
Full Sun, Partial Sun
Frost Tolerance
Frost Hardy
Cold Hardiness
Survives to -9°C
Plant Family
Asteraceae
Growing Season
Cool Season
Plant Lifecycle
Biennial
How to Start It
★ Recommended for beginners
For the sweetest endive, sow in midsummer for a fall harvest, when cool nights tame its bitterness; you can also sow in early spring, about 4 weeks before your last frost. Sow seeds 0.5 cm deep in a short row and keep the soil moist: they sprout in 7 to 14 days. Thin them (pull the extras) so each plant has 25 cm, and eat the thinnings in salads.
Endive is a cousin of chicory, with frilly or broad leaves and a pleasant bitter bite. It handles frost better than lettuce, so a fall crop can keep going until hard freezes. Covering the heart for a week or two before harvest (blanching) turns it pale and mild.
When To Start
First chance to plant
30 Days Before Last Frost
Last chance to plant
30 Days Before First Frost
When should you plant Endive?
Your planting dates depend on your local climate. Sign up and add your location to unlock personalized dates.
Your Endive Planting Window
Start planting
May 15, 2026
Last chance
Sep 10, 2026
Your Endive Calendar
Set your location to turn these into exact dates and reminders.
Sow endive now for sweet fall salads
60 days after your last frost· every year
Cover the endive heart for 1 to 2 weeks, then cut it
90 days after your last frost· every year· optional
Did you water your endive seedlings today? Keep the top of the soil damp until they are up and growing.
About 1 days after you plant it
Hello from your endive! Thin the plants so each one has room to form a full head.
About 31 days after you plant it
Your endive is getting close. Steady water keeps the leaves from turning bitter.
About 47 days after you plant it
Picking time may be here: check your endive.
About 50 days after you plant it
The Journey Ahead
Endive's Lifecycle
Seedling
Mature Plant
Seed Production
Step 2
Planting & Sprouting
Expect sprouts in 7–14 days
Growing Tips
- 1Grow endive in full sun, or in light afternoon shade in hot weather.
- 2Use loose soil with plenty of compost so the leaves grow fast and tender.
- 3Keep the soil evenly moist, because dry spells make endive tough, bitter and quick to bolt.
- 4Feed with compost tea or a little worm castings every 3 to 4 weeks.
- 5To blanch, wait until the leaves are dry, then tie the outer leaves loosely over the heart or cover the plant with a pot for 1 to 2 weeks before cutting.
- 6Pick slugs off at dusk and spray aphids off with water, and keep space between plants so blanched hearts do not rot.
Seedling Phase
Step 3
Growth & Maturity
~50
Days to Maturity
30 cm
Mature Height
30 cm
Mature Width
Pests to Watch For
Diseases to Watch For
Mature Plant
Step 4
Harvesting
Harvest Window
21 days
When to Pick
Harvest heads or leaves before bitter
How to Harvest
- 1Endive is ready about 50 days after sowing, once it forms a full rosette of leaves.
- 2For a milder taste, blanch the heart for 1 to 2 weeks first.
- 3Cut the whole head with a knife at soil level, or pick outer leaves a few at a time so the centre keeps growing.
- 4A light frost makes the leaves sweeter, but harvest everything before a hard freeze.
- 5Store the leaves unwashed in a bag in the fridge for up to a week.
Step 5
Saving Seeds
How to Save Seeds
Endive flowers pollinate themselves, so the seeds come true unless the variety is a hybrid F1. Wild chicory or radicchio flowering nearby can cross with it, so keep them apart or let only endive flower. A spring sowing often sends up tall flower stalks the same summer, covered in pretty blue flowers. The seeds ripen unevenly, so cut the stalks when most flowers are done and the heads are dry, and dry them in a paper bag. Crush the hard heads to free the seeds, then store them labelled somewhere cool, dark and dry for up to about 5 years.
Seed Production
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