Varieties for beginners and how to grow them

In the northern half of the United States, the best time to sow radicchio in apartments is from mid-June to the first third of July or so, Mr. Campbell said. Then it can be transplanted into the garden in July and early August.

But where to start, and with which ones?

At Uprising, Mr. Campbell and his partner, Crystine Goldberg, have included radicchio in their crop rotation and have sold his seeds since 2007. The types he recommends for beginners: Chioggia, Verona, Treviso Precoce, Castelfranco and Lusia . Within these, you can select varieties evaluated for their precocity – those with a short season whose descriptions indicate 60 days until maturity.

In Verona, for example, varieties can range from around 55 to 120 days, with days to maturity counted from the time the radicchio is transplanted into the garden. Choosing those with shorter maturity minimizes the risk of encountering difficult weather transitions at the end, although exposure to cold softens them.

Radicchio can be sown directly, but Mr. Campbell recommends sowing it in apartments about four weeks before the transplant date instead, as summer soil can be hot, dry and difficult to germinate, and it is easier to germinate. weed around transplants than it is around. tiny, emerging seedlings. Space the grafts out like you would a full-sized lettuce, he said, about 10 to 12 inches apart.

Radicchio has few disease and pest problems. Voles, however, love big roots, and deer have apparently also received the memo that radicchio is all the rage. The Uprising team learned this the hard way, when a quarter acre of head disappeared into a deer field that had yet to be visited.