Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners

Reviewed on 04/17/2012 by pointydog - An experienced gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Orange, New York, United States Frost Free Season: 163 - 183 days Soil Texture: Clay Garden Size: Medium - 400 square feet to 1,600 square feet Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
I looked far and wide for the seed for these (gourmetseed.com), they produced great closed heads of delicious, crisp, almost pearlescent radiccio. The leaves were the palest yellow-green with ruby-red flecks. Absolutely beautiful. the only care they required was careful maintenance of moisture in the seedbed. one bed got a litle dry and all the plants died. Once hey were an inch or so tall they were fine with the same watering ast he rest of the garden (only when dry). They grew well in the shade of large kale. They were delicious in salads. Grilled were tasty too, but they need far less time on the grill than the trevisio or palla rossa types. I sowed in late August and harvested baseball size heads until a warm spell in late November when they grew faster and I cut the remaining heads at about softball size because I was worried they might bolt. They stored exceptionally well in damp sand in the root cellar. We were enjoying them in salads through February. (note that cleaning the sand out from stored heads means they are not good for grillling and the beauty of the intact heads was lost. Next season I will try storage wrapped in newspaper in the damp cellar rather than in sand boxes.) An hour or two soak in cold water before serving greatly improved the texture of the stored heads. I planted early in April 2012 for a spring crop, will see how they do.

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