We planted the seeds last year at the beginning of April 2013 using 10-10-10 fertilizer and additional amounts of blood meal. Some seeds sprouted at the beginning of May and were harvested when mid-size...however the other seeds that were planted stayed dormant throughout the very hot, dry Lower Delaware summer, but we had a phenomenal crop of escarole at the end of September and into October....escarole likes cooler temperatures. Seems the seeds in the ground stayed viable over the summer until conditions were optimal for growing. We find that the nitrogen in the blood meal helps the escarole to really produce a great crop. We blanched the extra escarole and froze for use this winter.

I started growing this 2 seasons ago in place of Bionda a Cuore. It is a smaller plant in my experience. I am growing in MA. Start seeds in June..in the garden in July harvest in the fall. The first season a few plants got a disease. I think it was soil based because the next season it did really well. In fact I thought we would have too much but then the deer showed up.

Last fall in Iowa, we were suffering from a severe drought and having problems with germinating seed directly in the garden. We direct seeded the escarole in early October and had baby cutting greens by Halloween. The germination and survival was better than some tried and tested lettuce and spinach we grow.