Vegetables · Cool
Endive
Asteraceae
At a glance
- Plant spacing
- 30 cm
- USDA zones
- 4a–10a
- Frost-sensitive
- no
- Growth duration
- 12 weeks
Which beds suit?
- Sun (prefers)
- partial shadeAlso okay:full sun
- Soil (prefers)
- loamyAlso okay:raised-bed mix
- Drainage (prefers)
- normal
Seed & start
Pre-culture recommended
Start indoors / cold frame first, transplant into the raised bed later.
Stachi's tip
Endive is the robust cousin of lettuce — bitter notes, bolts less quickly, lasts into November. Blanching (tying leaves together) makes it milder.
The plant's year: sowing, transplanting, harvest
Sowing
Transplanting
Harvest
Good neighbours
Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
Avoid these neighbours
Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
Good pre-cultures
Stachi has no specific pre-cultures recorded.
Sources
- LLM-Baseline+gpt-5-review
- LLM-Baseline-Intercrop
- LLM-Baseline-2026-05-09 yieldKg
- LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 family-zehrer
- LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 sun-soil-drainage
- LWG Bayern (Bayerische Gartenakademie) – Infoschrift Gemüsearten zur Nachkultur 2102 (https://www.lwg.bayern.de/gartenakademie/gartendokumente/infoschriften/148345/index.php)
- Bingenheimer Saatgut – Endivien selbst anbauen (https://blog.bingenheimersaatgut.de/endivien-frischer-herbst-und-wintersalat)
- LWG Bayern (Bayerische Gartenakademie) – Sä- und Pflanztermine auf einen Blick (https://www.lwg.bayern.de/mam/cms06/gartenakademie/dateien/sae_und_pflanztermine.pdf)
Where these figures come from
- Timing
- Horticulturally established — consistent across the cited standard works.
- Spacing
- Horticulturally established — consistent across the cited standard works.
- Companion planting
- Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
- Crop rotation
- Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
- Yield
- Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
Sources: LLM-Baseline+gpt-5-review · LLM-Baseline-Intercrop · LLM-Baseline-2026-05-09 yieldKg · LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 family-zehrer · LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 sun-soil-drainage · LWG Bayern (Bayerische Gartenakademie) – Infoschrift Gemüsearten zur Nachkultur 2102 (https://www.lwg.bayern.de/gartenakademie/gartendokumente/infoschriften/148345/index.php) · Bingenheimer Saatgut – Endivien selbst anbauen (https://blog.bingenheimersaatgut.de/endivien-frischer-herbst-und-wintersalat) · LWG Bayern (Bayerische Gartenakademie) – Sä- und Pflanztermine auf einen Blick (https://www.lwg.bayern.de/mam/cms06/gartenakademie/dateien/sae_und_pflanztermine.pdf)
Articles about this plant
Blanching endive: the trick against bitterness – and where rot is lurking
Frau Schneider tied up her endive on a rainy afternoon because she didn't have time to wait. A week later the heart was brown and slimy instead of pale and tender. Here's what actually matters when you blanch it.
Pre-growing for the autumn bed: what you should already be sowing in June so the autumn doesn't stay empty
In June the bed is full and autumn feels far off. That's exactly the trap. What you pre-grow now, you harvest in October — and what you miss, you'll simply do without.
Related plants
Products mentioned in this post
- Plantura organic tomato seed set (10 varieties)Open-pollinated, good germination — robust for raised beds.
- Organic tomato seed set, 14 varieties
- Organic heirloom tomato seed set (Demeter, 12 varieties)
- Organic vegetable seed set, 10 varietiesCucumber, tomato, beetroot, broccoli, carrot, chard & more.