🥬 Natacha Escarole: Growing Guide
What it looks like
Why this variety
Natacha is a broad escarole with a dense, largely self-folding heart: smooth, broad leaves that wrap inward on their own, forming the pale, tender center that escarole is grown for, with less tying and covering than older types demand. It is the escarole for gardeners who want the heart without the fuss.
Escarole is the broad-leaved half of the endive family — same species as curly endive, Cichorium endivia, but the latifolium variety, with wide, smooth leaves and a milder flavor than its frilly cousins. That mildness is why escarole is the soup green of the family: it wilts into beans and broth without dominating them, and its heart is tender enough for salads raw.
Florida translation: Natacha is a fall-through-spring escarole here, and the fall crop is the sweetest — cool nights mellow the leaves and firm the hearts, while spring crops race to bolt as days lengthen. Plant it in fall, space widely for airflow in humid beds, and cut whole heads when hearts feel dense, or pick outer leaves for weeks and let the heart keep building.
How to grow
Sow Natacha Escarole directly or transplant, spacing as listed in the hero block. Endive and escarole are cool-season chicories: in Florida, the sowing window is fall through early spring, with the fall crop usually the sweetest, because cool nights mellow bitterness and frost firms the hearts.
Escarole hearts sweeten as they fold inward; tying outer leaves up for a week before harvest makes the palest, mildest hearts of all. Keep beds weed-free and watered; chicory roots run deep, so a deep watering once a week beats daily sprinkles.
Water & feeding
Chicory wants steady, deep moisture: about an inch a week, delivered at the base, plus mulch to keep roots cool. Uneven watering makes bitter, tough leaves; even watering makes crisp, sweet hearts. Feed lightly — worm castings at planting and one side-dress mid-season. Too much nitrogen grows lush outer leaves and a loose, bitter heart.
Common problems
Slugs love low chicory rosettes in damp weather — trap, hand-pick at dusk, and keep mulch pulled back from crowns. Aphids cluster in hearts; blast with water before harvest. Downy mildew shows in humid spells — space for airflow, water at the soil line, and remove affected outer leaves promptly.
Bitterness is the honest trade of chicory: heat, drought, and over-maturity all sharpen it. Pick in cool weather, blanch hearts where the variety calls for it, and pair bitter leaves with fat, acid, and salt in the kitchen — that is what the bitterness is for.
Harvest
Cut Natacha Escarole whole at the base when heads feel full and firm, or pick outer leaves over weeks for a longer, smaller harvest. For the mildest hearts, blanch by tying outer leaves up over the center for a week or two before cutting — the pale inner leaves are the prize. Refrigerate promptly; chicory keeps about a week, and its crunch is the point, so do not let it wilt.
Nerdy fact: Natacha’s self-folding heart is a labor-saving trait with a botanical explanation: inner leaves that never see full sun stay pale and tender, which is the same principle as blanching — except the plant does the tying for you.
Saving seeds
Natacha is a broad escarole with a dense, largely self-folding heart: smooth, broad leaves that wrap inward on their own, forming the pale, tender center that escarole is grown for, with less tying and covering than older types demand. It is the escarole for gardeners who want the heart without the fuss. Escarole is the broad-leaved half of the endive family — same species as curly endive, Cichorium endivia, but the latifolium variety, with wide, smooth leaves and a milder flavor than its frilly cousins. As a seed-sold, open-pollinated variety it comes true from seed: sow directly or transplant in fall through early spring, with the fall crop usually the sweetest, because cool nights mellow bitterness and frost firms the hearts. The full method is in the Saving seeds section of the Endive guide.