Vegetable Gardening For Dummies by Charlie Nardozzi

Author:Charlie Nardozzi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2010-03-08T16:00:00+00:00

Radicchio

Radicchio (Cichorum intybus) is a type of leaf chicory that can be eaten as a lettuce or allowed to form a small, red, cabbagelike head. It’s the latter form that people are most familiar with in salad bars and restaurants. The heads form white veins and grow to the size of grapefruits. Radicchio has a slightly bitter, tart, and tangy flavor and adds culinary and visual pizazz to salads.

For some home gardeners, radicchio isn’t the easiest crop to grow, because it often doesn’t form heads. Radicchio likes it cool, and it sometimes grows best in spring and sometimes in fall, depending on the variety. The following four modern varieties more consistently form heads than older varieties: ‘Palla Rossa’, ‘Chioggia Red Preco No. 1’, ‘Early Treviso’, and ‘Indigo Hybrid’. The latter two varieties are good fall and winter selections. If you grow these four varieties at the right time, they should form heads.

In cold-winter climates, start radicchio indoors, similar to lettuce transplants, and grow it as a spring or fall crop. In mild-winter climates, it’s best grown as a fall crop. Grow radicchio as you would lettuce (see Chapter 10). Most modern varieties, including those previously mentioned, form heads on their own (without being cut back) 80 to 90 days from seeding. Harvest the heads when they’re solid, like small cabbages. The heads are crunchy, colorful, and good for cooking.

If plants don’t start forming heads about 50 days after setting them out in the garden, cut the plants back to within 1 inch of the ground and enjoy the lettucelike greens. The new sprouts that grow will form heads.

Radishes

If you’re looking for quick satisfaction, grow radishes (Raphanus sativus). The seeds germinate within days of planting, and most varieties mature their tasty roots within 30 days. Daikon, Spanish, Chinese, and rat-tail radishes take 50 days to mature. When grown in cool weather and not stressed, radishes will have a juicy, slightly hot flavor. Of course, anyone who’s grown radishes knows that if radishes are stressed by lack of water, too much heat, or competition from weeds or each other, you end up with a fire-breathing dragon that people won’t tolerate. I list some popular varieties and provide tips for growing radishes in the following sections.

Varieties

Most gardeners are familiar with the spring-planted red globes or white elongated roots found in grocery stores, but exotic-looking international radishes are now showing up in specialty food stores and restaurants. These radishes require a longer season and are often planted to mature in fall or winter. (They’re often called winter radishes for that reason.) Here are some you can try:

Japanese radishes called daikons can grow up to 2-foot-long white roots.

Spicy-hot Spanish black radishes look like round black balls or cylinders and can be kept in a root cellar for 6 months.

Chinese radishes look like turnips but are red, green, or white on the inside. They taste similar to the Japanese radishes.

Rat-tail radishes are grown for the spicy-tasting seed pods that form after flowering.

The following varieties work

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