Planting guide

When to plant endive

Frilly or broad-leaved salad greens with a pleasant bitter bite for cool weather. In Melbourne it goes in All year.

Start as: Seed, sown in place or Seedling
Ready in: 9–13 wks
Spacing: 30 cm
Depth: 0.5 cm
Sun: Full sun (6+ hours)
Water: Regular
Effort: Some care
Frost-tender: No

When it goes in

● means endive can go in that month, ○ means wait. Worked out from each town's real monthly temperatures, not a zone map. Pick your town for the full list for that month.

Australian towns and cities
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Sydney	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Melbourne	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Brisbane	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Perth	●	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Adelaide	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Gold Coast	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Newcastle	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Sunshine Coast	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Canberra	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Central Coast	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Geelong	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Wollongong	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Hobart	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Townsville	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Cairns	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Toowoomba	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Darwin	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	○	○	○	○	○
Ballarat	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Mandurah	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Bendigo	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Launceston	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Mackay	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Rockhampton	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Coffs Harbour	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Blue Mountains	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Bunbury	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Bundaberg	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Alice Springs	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Mildura	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Port Macquarie	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●

Around the world
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Auckland	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Wellington	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Christchurch	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
London	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Manchester	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Edinburgh	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Dublin	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
New York City	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Los Angeles	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Chicago	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Seattle	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Austin	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Toronto	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Vancouver	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Cape Town	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Johannesburg	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Singapore	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Mumbai	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Paris	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Berlin	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○

How to plant endive

Sow seed shallowly or buy seedlings.
Thin to 30 cm apart.
Keep moist; cover the heart for a week to blanch and sweeten.
Cut whole heads at the base.

Endive varieties

Classic varieties are the reliable, widely grown ones. Adventurous ones are heirlooms, odd colours and rarities.

Green Curled RuffecClassicheirloom · 10–13 wksFrilly, finely cut French endive
Batavian BroadleafClassiccold-hardy · 10–13 wksBroad-leaved escarole for cooking or salad
Salad KingClassicheat-tolerant · 9–12 wksVigorous curly endive
Red TrevisoAdventurouscolourful · 11–14 wksRed-leaved chicory-endive

Where to buy seeds

Search on Seeds of Plenty Search on Happy Valley Seeds Search on The Diggers Club Search on Amazon

Shop links may earn us a commission. It never changes what we recommend.

Shops shown are for Australia. The chooser picks shops for your country.

Good companions

Leek, Bean, Lettuce

Endive by month

Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec

More to plant

Lettuce · Spinach · Silverbeet · Kale · Rocket · Bok Choy

Not sure endive is right for your space? Answer a few taps and see everything that can go in this week.

Find what else you can plant now →