Red-leaf Radicchio

What's not to love about a red-leaved radicchio (or Italian chicory), lettuce-like in shape, size and use? I've had four in one of my big pots near the back door, for simplicity when collecting a few leaves at dinner time.

Not surprisingly, the plants bolted when the hot weather really began, but were nicely upright - and I thought I'd collect seeds - until they started flopping over the path in a very undignified manner. They've now been tidied up.
Luckily there's more in the edible patch, where I'm happy for the plants to flower away, and where I'm less troubled by a bit of drunken falling over. I'm determined to collect seeds! (Blue flowers in the orange-and-red veg plot. Oh well. They are pretty.)

But for a little while we had, atop stems a metre high, unexpected, sweet flowers of sky blue just like the blooms of its brother, green-leaved chicory (Cichorium intybus, that so-called coffee replacement (bar humbug) in times of deprivation). Who knew they were related? (I knew that chicory has blue flowers, but didn't know that it was closely related to the red-leaved radicchio, so different in colour and shape.)

So I pulled out the errant radicchio, and topped up the potting mix in the large pot. I added lettuce seed, covered lightly, and watered well...especially during the hot days we've had (up to 41 degrees here, with northerly winds) and shaded them a little with bracken stalks.

 

Often I have a bit of fun with my sowing...as you can see. Within the 2 round pots (the other two are square) are water-well pots, hidden when the lettuce grows.

Thankfully, these 4 pots, near the back door, only receive morning sun, hot as that is.

Planting lettuce seed in January might sound crazy, but I am an optimist!

 

Jill Weatherhead is horticulturist, writer, garden designer and principal at Jill Weatherhead Garden Design who lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, and works throughout Victoria. (www.jillweatherheadgardendesign.com.au)