Growing Vegetables

Easy and fast to grow, radishes are not usually planted in special rows. Sow a pinch of radish seeds at a time here and there among slow-sprouting seeds of other vegetables or in unused corners. You might try mixing radish seeds with carrot, parsnip, or parsley if your soil is likely to form a crust. The vigorous radish seedlings will break through and open the way for the weaker seeds that might not otherwise make it. Within three and a half to four weeks of planting, the radishes will have matured and can be pulled. A packet of seeds will usually yield several dozen radishes.

How to plant

Radishes are frost hardy. Sow seeds as soon as the soil can be worked in the spring and at two week intervals thereafter except during the hottest part of summer. Summer-grown roots turn pithy rapidly, or plants shoot to seed. Work in a light application of bal­anced fertilizer, plant seeds ‘/2 inch deep and 1 inch apart, and water weekly.

Harvesting

Begin pulling radishes when they are a little larger than a pea. Pull out and discard plants as soon as roots begin to get pithy or pungent.

In containers

A soil depth of only 4 to 8 inches is needed for this fast-growing crop.