Often referred to as escarole (which has broader leaves), this salad plant will succeed in any ordinary garden soil not deficient in humus and standard moisture. Like lettuce, its succulent growth has to be quite rapid to allow it to form tender leaves.
Soil quality
On poor, dry, exposed soil its growth will be slowed up so that its leaves, even should they form in volume, will be tough and pungent. For success in developing endive, use the identical place where lettuce succeeded early in the spring, and add a thin layer of compost between the rows.
Moon Phase Planting
Endive should be planted when the moon is in the 1st Quarter (i.e. waxing) and in one of the next Zodiac Signs: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces, Libra, Virgo, Gemini. Note: This formula applies to both planting of seeds and transplanting.
Seed should be sown, covered with more than 1/3 inch of finely sifted, mature compost humus, clean sand, or a combination of the two. To make the job easier, seed, sand and humus might be well mixed in a container and then spread across the base of a shallow trench. The rows should be placed about one foot apart and the plants thinned to stand 1 foot apart in the row. For a fall crop, seed must be sown in late summer.
You may find it best to raise endive in an apartment or similar container set in a partially shaded spot, or with a shaded seedbed. Flats and seedbeds could be protected from excessive summer heat by extending cheesecloth over them. When transplanting the young plants into the garden, make sure they’re set slightly deeper than they had been at the apartment and are nicely firmed. A little work with the hoe to keep weeds down, or a light mulching of rough or straw mulch, is about all of the cultivation the crops need.
Blanching
The slightly bitter, unappetizing taste of the leaves could be removed by blanching. This might be achieved by inverting flowerpots within the plants, by putting foot-wide boards on edge so that they protect the row using a light-tight miniature roof, or by tying the heads up once the plant is about half-grown and the mind fairly well formed. To do so, draw together the extended outer leaves and tie them with soft string or a strip of muslin. The plants should stay covered or tied for around three weeks.
Plants which reach maturity in late autumn should be pumped up with a fantastic chunk of earth around their roots and put in a darkened corner of a trendy, unheated basement. Here the heads will soon blanch with no requirement of linking.
Although blanching reduces the bitterness natural to the foliage, in addition, it decreases its food value. The green, unblanched outer leaves are full of vitamins A, B, and C. The bitterness of those outer leaves can grow to be a savory asset when cooked in soups with a taste and with greens. They may also be used to add distinction to the salad bowl.
Summary
The moon enhances or discourages the different phases of plant formation. This was considered by many generations of anglers to be the best guide to strong crops. We can either accept or omit this system of understanding the nature of plant maturation but ultimately we are but stewards in this cycle of life and there are many things yet to be discovered.
