Roots & tubers
Radish
Quick succession filler.
- Outside
- Direct Apr and Sep, a short row at a time
- Where
- Raised bed or in ground
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Little and often; a dry check turns them sharp
- Harvest
- May to Jun, then Oct, pull small
Care
- Water
- Little and often keeps it moving; steady, unbroken growth is what keeps a radish mild and crisp. A root that stalls in dry soil comes up sharp and woody. So shallow a crop only needs the top inch kept damp, checked by finger.
- Sow
- Sow a short stretch of row every few days through April, then again in September, a quarter inch deep and an inch apart, rows a foot apart. Thin at once to about 2 inches. Up in 3 or 4 days and pulled in a month; skip the summer, when they bolt and turn sharp.
- Feed
- The lightest feeder on the card. A shovel of compost or castings in the bed is more than enough, and no liquid at all; nitrogen close to sowing grows lush tops over a stringy root. A month-long crop lives on what the soil already holds.
- Ready
- Pull once the roots run somewhere between a marble and a ping pong ball, about a month from sowing; on time is the only time. Left too long, a radish goes pithy and hollow. Slip a whole short row at once, then start the next.
- Trouble
- Pinholes across the tops: flea beetles, which cost the root little, so net only if looks matter. Bolted plants that never sized a root: a hot or late sowing, so keep to the cool spring and fall windows. Split roots: a downpour after dry soil, so pull promptly.
In a bag?
- Yes
- Up to a 3–5 gal bag.
- Water
- Daily in warm weather; a bag dries far faster than a bed, and a checked radish turns sharp and hollow. 20 to 30 sec on the shower dial until it runs from the seams.
- Sow
- Broadcast a thin scatter across the bag and thin to 2 inches.
The gap-filler: radishes sown in April and again in September, ready in a month, gone before anything else needs the space. No crop asks less or answers faster.
Growing
Direct sow a short row at a time through April rather than all at once, and repeat the trick in September for an October crop. Thin immediately to an inch and pull at marble to ping-pong size, since an old radish is pith and regret. Summer sowings bolt and bite and are not worth the seed. Sprinkle often rather than soaking; a radish that never stalls stays mild, and one checked by dry soil turns hot and hollow.
Varieties
Cherry Belle is the four-week standard; French Breakfast brings the looks and a milder bite.
Pests
Flea beetles pinhole the tops without costing the root much, and the maggot that troubles turnips mostly skips these cool-season sowings; netting settles both if perfection matters.
In the kitchen
Halved onto buttered bread with flaky salt, a recipe the French already finished. The tops blend into a decent pesto for the thrifty.