Flower of the year 2009, vegetable of the year 2005, effective medicinal plant and basis for the coffee substitute Muckefuck - Chicory has many faces. Reason enough to integrate the beauty of nature into the planting plan of the cottage garden. The easiest way to do this is to sow directly, since early young plants do not like to be transplanted. This guide explains how to do it.
The seeds for sowing chicory can be bought or you can collect them yourself
This is how you prepare the seedbed in an exemplary manner
When there is no more fear of ground frost from May, sowing can begin. In a sunny, warm and sheltered location with normal garden soil, please create a finely crumbly seedbed. The soil is thoroughly loosened with the rake. Add some sand to improve permeability. If the soil is distinctly sandy-gravelly, sifted compost compensates for the deficit.
Sowing chicory - this is how it works
In the prepared seedbed, draw narrow furrows with a stick at a distance of 30 to 40 centimeters. How to sow the seeds correctly:
- Scatter the seed in the furrows
- Sieve the dark germs with a 2 to 3 cm layer of soil
- Press the substrate very lightly and water with a fine spray
To prevent the valuable seeds from ending up in the stomachs of hungry birds and other garden dwellers, spread a close-meshed protective net over the bed. In the following days and weeks, water regularly and pull weeds. When the seedlings have reached a height of 5 to 6 cm, the young chicory are separated at a distance of 8 to 10 cm.
Flowers appear only in the second year
Chicory thrives as a biennial plant. In the year of sowing, only a rosette of leaves forms. The following year, the sky-blue flowers sprout from June to October. The resulting seeds are ideal for propagation, again using these instructions.
tips
Various cultivated forms of chicory bring us edible useful plants. Well-known representatives are the subspecies chicory and radicchio; two extremely healthy vegetables and salad plants for a balanced diet. Since diversity falls by the wayside as a result of one-sided mass production, countless local varieties are threatened with extinction. The cultivation of chicory and its subspecies in your own garden thus makes a valuable contribution to nature conservation.