Nepeta cataria (Bag) – Franchi Sementi

Endive Riccia Romanesco da Taglio. A cut and come again endive from Rome. Thin serrated dark green leaves with classic endive taste and texture. Space at 4" between plants, 8" between rows. 40-45 days. Plant grows in a small upright bunch which is easy to harvest. You can also just broadcast seed it trying to get seeds every inch or two and cut it when it gets three/four inches high. Simple to grow and good resistance to bolting. Best for spring and fall but will work at any time throughout the growing season. Perfect for that Roman salad you remember. Can also be cooked. 60 or so days for full size. 10 gram pack. Approximately 900 seeds per gram.

*Heritage Variety*
L40 - Endive Romanesco da Taglio: Roman cutting endive with thin, jagged upright leaves that grow in small bunches. This is a very easy variety to grow and use and it has a long sowing season. Dont be tempted to sow them in the spring along with your other lettuces, you wont get very good results. Its an endive, not a lettuce, even if it looks more like a lettuce. They need heat initially to germinate and start their journey, and then cold to develop. Most varieties are very hardy and will tolerate sub-zero. There are several varieties of escarole and endive; the open-headed ones should be tied up about seven to ten days before harvest to blanch the heart and make them tender. Or you can just stick a bucket on top and, when you harvest that head, move the bucket to the next one. Be lazy – use an elastic band. Be even lazier and plant them closer than the standard 20 cm apart, so they all bunch up and blanch themselves.

Sow: from April to October
Harvest May to mid December.
Approximate seeds quantity: @5600 seeds.


Partnership plant: Tomato, Leek.

What to sow after: Cauliflower & Cabbage, Cucumber, Bean,
Aubergine, Melon, Pepper, Pea, Tomato, Radish, Courgette.

*Heritage Variety*
This is a mid-early variety producing bushes variety with small leaves and quite a strong flavor. This variety is easy to grow, especially in containers.
Super for making good basilly sauces and with Red Pear Franchi tomatoes.

Approximate seeds quantity:@4000.
To be sow from March to July directly on the ground and inside the rest of the year.

Basil Fine Nano Compatto a Palla (formerly Greco a Palla). This is a beautiful plant, a bush variety with a naturally round shape. It has small, bright green leaves. The flavor is intense and holds up well in tomato dishes. Use for flavoring or just leave some on a plate or in a jar in the kitchen for aroma and color.

It can be grown in a large pot. For transplants, start 5-6 seeds in a cell six or seven weeks before set out date which is ten or more days after last frost date. Thin to three or four. Set plants 12 inches apart. For direct seeding, 7-8 seeds every foot, thin to two or three. 5 gram packet, about 3,000 seeds.

Basil has approximately 600-650 seeds per gram.

"Long Purple." 8-inch-long, rustic, deep purple eggplant. Grown all over Italy. Classic rich eggplant taste. Good producer, reliable. 70 days. 3 gram packet, approximately 600 seeds. Approximately 200-250 per gram.

*Heritage variety*

V3 - This is the classic Italian eggplant typically used in Emilia Romagna to make 'Parmigiana' with tomatoes and parmesan cheese. This is a mid-early variety, very productive. It produces long, dark and slightly curved aubergine of medium dimensions with very few seeds inside.

Approximate seeds quantity:@660
Sow: from February - mid May