Radicchio di Castelfranco (40-5)

Grown this variety for more than 5 years. It's one of the easiest and most reliable. In fact last year I had a number of these sprout from an old compost heap. Fantastic in salads, steamed when mature. Fabulous roasted and served with crab cakes. A crowd pleaser, I always have buyers for any extra on hand. If that weren't enough this is a stunning ornamental as well, I plant them with the smaller maroon grumolo types for contrast. I grow in Central Virginia climate zone 7. These grow well as an early spring salad sowing if started in February and go into the ground in early March. The fall season is ideal here in Virginia for this variety. I sow in August about every two or three weeks right up to October. I start them in flats and keep them cool while germinating. Water water water after transplanting. The September sowing can be harvested Thanksgiving through Christmas. Most years they winter over with crop cover just fine. Normally I remove the covers in mid February and clean up the beds. These make a beautiful ornamental in March when nothing is blooming. Sadly they got blasted this year by the Polar Vortex, but they rate on my “must have” list.

Really attractive - love adding it to a salad, extremely colorful in the late fall in the Pacific NW