Interesting Facts About Growing Radishes
Growing radishes is one of the easiest of the vegetable garden chores you're likely to be faced with. In fact, in a child's first vegetable garden, growing radishes, beans, lettuce, peas, and even corn, can get the young ones interested in vegetable gardening as these are all easy plants to grow, and some, like radishes, grow very quickly. The one downside may be that young children often find radishes a little too hot and spicy, but you never know.
When growing radishes one starts with well worked soil, worked to a depth of at least 6", and preferably a bit more. The seeds for most all varieties are sown at a depth of around 1/2". Keep the soil moist, and away you go. While watering requirements of growing radishes are not much different than for most other vegetables, radishes may respond poorly if the watering regimen becomes too uneven. Whether you water the vegetable garden every day, when the weather is hot, or every third day, when it's not, stick to the same schedule when the plants are growing, which only takes 20 days to a month before they're ready to harvest.
Seed Pods, Seeds, And Leaves - We grow radishes mostly for the purpose of eating the flavorful, spicy roots, and we have well over 100 varieties to choose from. A few have discovered the joys of eating radish seed pods. Most varieties don't have edible seed pods, but a couple, "Muenchener Bier" and "Rat's Tail" feature seed pods which, when still green, are said to taste like snow peas with a kick. The former sounds like a seed pod that would go well with a glass of Bavarian beer.
There are even a few varieties, 3 or 4 at most, which can be grown for their greens, including the Lo Bok and White Icicle varieties. Some even enjoy radish seeds, perhaps as a winter time snack when, out of a desire to try something different, the seed supply is raided. "Pontvil", "Jumbo", and "Bartender Red Mammoth" radish seeds are apparently the favorite of quite a few.
Spring Radishes For The Most Of Us - Most of the rest of us, when growing radishes, grow them for the roots, and most of the rest of us choose the varieties meant for spring growing, with “Champion" and "Scarlet Globe" the best sellers, and the varieties most often chosen for a beginning vegetable garden. These, and the other spring growing varieties grow rapidly, and are often planted at two-week intervals during the first 4 to 6 weeks of spring. They are best eaten when the roots are not much bigger than a grape, which will happen quicker than you may think. The seedlings need to be thinned out to about 3" apart to allow the roots to assume their familiar round shape. If you forget to thin out your radish plants, you'll end up harvesting a crop of thin roots, plus a few pea sized ones.
Although we enjoy radishes just for munching on, or in salads, few of us plant anything other than the spring-growing varieties. Part of this may be due to the fact that many of us can only eat so many radishes, and having them for a few weeks during the late spring is enough. Those who really love the radish, or use it extensively in preparing meals, often plant the mid summer and late summer varieties as well.
Oriental Radishes - The later grown varieties include the Oriental types, which are grown much the same as are carrots, and can remain in the ground fir just as long. Most spring radishes have to be harvested when the roots are no more than an inch wide, or they will become overly hot and pithy. Eating an overly matured radish can be like chewing on a hot-spiced cotton rope. The Orientals however, though becoming hotter the longer they grow, don't become woody or pithy.
Two Radish Pests - In some areas, it's a good idea to mix a little insecticide powder into the dirt when planting the seeds. Cutworms and root maggots sometimes attack radishes, leaving holes or channels in the roots. The roots are still edible, at least those with channels instead of holes, but aren't particularly appealing to look at. Not all gardens will have these pests. They are more likely to be found in gardens in the northern half of the United States.