Growing Radish Tips: Radishes are one of the most popular vegetables for the home gardener because they are easy to grow and are the first from the garden ready to eat. Radishes add a lot of flavor and color to any salad and are good eaten alone with a touch of salt. They are very useful in teaching children to enjoy gardening since they can see the results in a matter of days.

General Info

Radish seed will germinate in 4-7 days under normal conditions and are ready to eat in 20-30 days. They like cool weather but do not tolerate frost. In hot weather they tend to bolt so although they may be grown throughout the summer in some areas, they do best in spring and fall.

Planting Radish
Radishes are planted from seed directly in the garden. Sow seeds 1/2 inch deep spaced two inches apart. Separate rows eight to ten inches apart. Since radishes are a root crop, make sure to work the soil well 6-10 inches deep and remove any rocks that would obstruct the development of the underground bulb. Some gardeners like to simply broadcast seed over a large area and thin to 2 inches apart when the seedlings emerge. Due to their fast growth, they can be used to "mark" rows of other slower growing crops. As the radish emerge you can harvest as needed or leave to mark the rows of carrots or whatever until they sprout. Plant in direct sun after all danger of frost has passed. Stagger plantings ever week to ten days to have a continuous crop.

Care
Radish needs plenty of water so keep the soil moist, but not soggy. Without adequate water the bulbs will fail to form or they will bolt. Radish does not like to be crowded and they do not compete well with weeds so give them room and keep the weeds removed.

Radishes are not affected by many diseases due to their fast growth cycle. However they are venerable to root maggots which can make an entire crop uneatable. If you have a root maggot problem, first, try planting in a different location as far as possible from the first planting. You will know in a matter of days if the new location has maggots. The only solution in this situation is to physically block the adult maggot (fly) from having access to the base of the plants where they lay their eggs by use of row covers. Be sure the covers extend 6 inches beyond the plant on each side.

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