How to Grow Radishes

Radishes might not be top of your list of vegetables to grow but there’s a few reasons you might want to consider them as a crop.

The are high in Vitamin C, calcium, fibre, folate, and potassium, and have been linked with lowering blood pressure as they have natural nitrates that improve blood flow. Radishes have also been used to treat constipation and kidney stones.

They are known for their bitter flavour however if you peel them, they become much milder and cooking can also give them a mellow sweet flavour. You can also eat the leaves and sprouts in salads and you can even pickle the radish roots.

When to grow radishes

Radishes will germinate in soil temperatures of 8-30°C or 46–86°F. This means that although they do prefer it on the slightly cooler side, they can be grown virtually anywhere and in some places, all year round.

Radish varieties

If you haven’t been a radish fan until now, you probably don’t realise that there over 100 different varieties to choose from. Here are a few that you might like to sample:

· Champion – a classic red sphere-shaped root with a mild flavour

· French Breakfast – a popular choice that has a oblong shaped root that is rose and white coloured

· Daikon – popular in Asian dishes, this variety has a sweet, mild, white, cylindrical root that can grow to be huge and can be used to naturally break soil compaction. Chickens also love it!

· Golden – great all rounder for salads, pickling or cooking, this variety has a spherical root with golden coloured skin and white flesh

· Watermelon – named for what it resembles when sliced, this variety is especially great as a garnish but also has a mild, sweet flavour

· Rat-Tailed – grown not for the root but for the seed pod, this variety is great raw in salads or cooked in a stir fry or pickled

How to grow radishes from seeds

The key to growing radishes from seed is getting your soil right first. Like beetroot, they don’t like to be waterlogged and they also do like quite a lot of water so you don’t want your soil too free-draining – you are looking for a happy medium with soil that will hold water for 2-3 days. Ensuring you have a quality soil rich in organic matter such as compost or chicken manure and a good mulch to stop the soil drying out will make all the difference. As they are a root crop, you’ll want to ensure the soil is fairly loose before planting your seeds.

Raised garden beds are perfect for growing radishes in – it ensures good drainage, and you can fill them with quality soil. Birdies garden beds are Mark’s raised beds of choice.

The second thing you are going to want to consider is location. Radishes like full sun, so you’ll need to position them somewhere that gets at least 6 hours of sunlight a day. However, if you are planting in summer, you may like to choose somewhere with partial shade to protect the plants from the direct summer heat, particularly in the middle of the day.

Because they are such a fast-growing crop, you won’t want to waste your time transplanting from seed trays, instead direct sow seeds straight into your garden bed.

Sow the seeds around 10mm or around half an inch deep and around 200mm or 8 inches apart and cover them over with soil before giving them a light water. You want to give your radishes space, as overcrowding can result in the plant bolting or going to seed before the root has developed. Continue to water frequently to keep the soil moist but not wet.

Seedlings will begin to emerge around 3-14 days after planting. Radishes are relatively low maintenance so if you keep them watered regularly, there isn’t much else you’ll need to do.

If you see leaves looking wilted and flat, that is a sign that they need more water. It can happen quickly so as soon as you notice it, be sure to give your radishes a good watering and they will soon perk back up. Provided this isn’t happening too often, the wilting won’t harm the plant long term.

How long do radishes take to grow?

Radishes are one of the fastest growing crops in the world. Most varieties can take as little as 20-30 days to reach maturity while some take a little longer.

When to harvest radishes

If left for too long, radishes become woody, hard, and too bitter, but they are beautiful, tender, and mild when eaten young. The only way you can really know is to dig a plant up and have a look how they are developing. You may be able to do this carefully without pulling up the root so you can bury it again if it’s not quite ready.

Radish pests and diseases and how to control them organically

Cutworms

These caterpillars are mostly active at night and will chomp through the stems of your seedlings cutting off the top foliage at the soil level. You can head out to the garden at night with a torch and pick off the cutworms one by one to help get rid of them, you can also sprinkle

diatomaceous earth around your seedlings which will dehydrate the worms, you can create a “collar” to protect the seedling with toilet rolls/cardboard/paper, or you can even sprinkle cornmeal or coffee grounds around the base of the plants as the cutworms cannot digest it. Alternatively, BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) is a bacteria that kills caterpillars which can be sprayed on the plants (known as Yates Nature’s Way Caterpillar Killer in Australia).

Aphids

Aphids can be a gardener’s nightmare for a huge range of plants. These small insects can be found on the stems and undersides of leaves of your plant and can be a range of different colours depending on what they are eating. Left untreated, aphids can swell to proportions that risk your plant developing diseases and becoming unhealthy. The most natural way to avoid aphids is to attract beneficial insects such as ladybugs that eat the aphids. Other natural remedies include organic neem oil, diatomaceous earth sprinkled on top of the aphids to dehydrate and kill them, strong spray of water to dislodge the aphids, or a spray of soapy water which suffocates the aphids (be sure to hose off any soap later).

Cabbage Worms/Cabbage Loopers/Cabbage Moths

The arch nemesis of any gardener are the cabbage worms. These bright green caterpillars can destroy an entire crop in days if left unchecked. They are the larvae of the cabbage moth which is a small white moth that lays their eggs on the underside of leaves. The caterpillars have voracious appetites and will eat and eat and eat until your plant is decimated. Fortunately, there are a few ways to control them. Picking them off and squashing them can help to keep populations down. Netting your susceptible plants at night may also help – especially while your plants are young as they do prefer young leaves. Companion planting to attract parasitic wasps is something I’ve had great success with – borage is my go-to for a companion plant that grows quickly and brings in the wasps in droves. Alternatively, BT or bacillus thuringiensis is a natural option that can be sprayed on the leaves of your plant. When the caterpillars eat the BT, it tells them that they are full so they don’t eat and ultimately die of starvation. It sound brutal but anyone who has experienced the devastation of cabbage worms will tell you, sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures!

Damping off

A fungal disease that causes seedlings to rot at the soil line and collapse, damping off is usually caused by overwatering your seedlings. Ensuring you have well-draining soil and keeping the soil moist but not wet, is key to avoiding damping off. As the plants become more established, this will no longer be a problem.

Mark’s top tips for growing radishes

Rat-tailed radish will grow at times of year when normal radishes might not grow in your climate. They are the perfect way to get that radish hit without a traditional form of radish. You may also want to check out Mark’s videos “One of the best and biggest radishes is daikon” and “7 top vegetables easy to grow in a hot summer” for more tips.

Do you have any tips or questions about growing radishes? Mark and the Self Sufficient Me team love hearing about your growing success so why not join our forum to let us know how you went growing radishes?

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