Radishes

 

Beets Broccoli Brussel Sprouts Cabbage Cauliflower Carrots Cress
Lettuce Onions Peas Potatoes Radishes Salad Greens Spinach

 

Radishes add a delicious tang to a spring salad.  When harvested tender they are soooooooo  good eaten raw.  Radishes are easy to grow and depending on the variety can be harvested in 3-6 weeks.  It is helpful to sow several patches 2-3 weeks apart to extend the season as radishes “bolt” or shoot head very quickly and get tough, pithy and bitter.Radishes can be planted in a row or block.  I prefer a block planting.  I have one area in the garden where I plant blocks.

Radishes Oakleaf Lettuce Buttercrunch Lettuce Spinach

Carrots, beets, and salad could be added to the block planting.  Plant radishes in early spring.  I lightly sprinkle seed over tilled block and stir with rake. Radish seeds germinate quickly in 3-10 days.

 

 Varieties:

*Cherry Belle: HEIRLOOM VARIETY: The Cherry Belle originates from Holland. It is a sweet, tangy, round and red as a cherry, matures in 24 days. It does well in clay soils.

 

*Champion

HEIRLOOM VARIETY: Bright, scarlet red radish that matures quickly in 24 days.  Crisp, white flesh, and slow to become pithy. They are very uniform in size and color and great for farmer markets.

 

French Breakfast

HEIRLOOM VARIETY: Oblong -like a carrot and matures in 25 days.  Scarlet red top with white tip, mild and tender.  Has a spicy radish flavor and can become pithy if harvested late.

 

 Long White Icicle

HEIRLOOM VARIETY: White skin and crisp flesh with a mild flavor.  Icicle shaped roots grow up to 5″ lon fg in 28 days.

 

 Sparkler White Tip

HEIRLOOM VARIETY: Globe shaped root with upper portion carmine-scarlet and pure white tip.  Solid, crisp and sweet.  Matures in 24 days.

Winter long keepers:

 China Rose

HEIRLOOM VARIETY: Plant in August for winter harvest.  It is a 6″ half -long stump with deep rose skin and white flesh.  Dig before frost and it will store several months in cellar or cool, dry place.  Matures in 50-58 days.

White Chinese

 

Large stump root.  Brittle and never woody.  White skin and flesh, mild in flavor.  Great winter keeper.  Matures in 60 days.

*My favorite varieties