Growing Radishes
Some Tips On Growing Radishes
Before you start growing radishes, you will want to decide if you want to plant one of the spring varieties, or if you would rather stick with the winter types. There are over 200 species to choose from, and if you want the widest selection available, you will do well to consult with a private greenhouse or garden center. These passionate gardeners will have a much better seed variety on hand, and will be able to tell you which ones are sweet, large, hot, pink, or any of the other key information that you will want to know. There is little sense in doing all of that work to grow a plant that you can not use or do not prefer, so be sure that you are growing radishes you will love.
You will need to till an area in your garden for growing radishes, and you will want to turn the earth about 6 inches deep for spring radishes and 12 inches deep for the winter varieties. Don’t let the name fool you, for even though winter radishes gain better flavor with the first mild frost of late fall, they will be killed by the first hard frost and should be harvested before then. Your soil should be light but rich, such as a mixture of sand and fertilized soil would be, and should supply excellent drainage for your radishes.
Be sure that your radish patch will be privy to at least 6 hours of direct sunlight per day, and remember that both spring and winter types are a cool weather crop. They will do best in the early spring, just after the soil reaches a temperature above 50 degrees, and during the fall when the soil temperature falls below 55 degrees. Your seeds will need to be planted about two inches apart and only about ½ inch deep. As there will likely be multiple seedlings in each clump, you will need to thin your growing radishes to no more than two plants per two inches along your row.
Check on your growing radishes once the leaves have reached an average size of ½ inch long. They may not quite be ready, but it never hurts to keep on top of things in your garden. Be sure that you remove all of your spring radishes before the dog heat of summer sets in, and that your winter crop of this delicious tuber is cleaned up before the first hard frost pushes down into the earth. Many varieties gain sweetness and dimension to their flavors when stricken with light frost, so try a taste the day after a frost to see for yourself. Enjoy your hard earned crop.