Radish Roundup

By Pauline Lloyd

Radishes come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, as well as in a variety of colours, with white, red or black varieties being the ones most readily available. Some radishes have quite a mild taste, whereas others have a much hotter and more peppery flavour adding a nice tang to a leafy green garden salad. If you don't know your radishes, then experiment by growing several different varieties until you discover the ones you prefer.

Nutritionally radishes are a good source of calcium, iron and vitamin C. They are also very easy to prepare, being mostly eaten raw in a salad. For peak freshness pull them up just before use. Then just give them a good scrub with a vegetable brush to remove any soil and slice them thinly with a sharp knife. Large varieties are probably best eaten grated, if you are going to eat them raw.

Requiring little in the way of care and attention, they are an ideal crop for busy people to grow. Simply sprinkle the seeds onto the soil in their final growing position, making successional sowings fortnightly from late February onwards. Seeds can either be broadcast or sown in rows and should be lightly covered with soil. Alternatively, sow them around the edges of your beds or borders. Your crop should remain largely free of pests and diseases, although slugs sometimes munch at the leaves, or bore into the roots if the radishes are left in the ground for a long time. It's important to water radishes regularly, particularly if there is insufficient natural rainfall. Make sure that they are kept moist at all times, otherwise they will probably bolt. It's also a good idea to feed them with seaweed solution occasionally. I seem to have most success with early spring sown crops and with late summer/winter varieties, which I sow around mid-July. Another good thing about radishes is that they grow really fast, with some varieties cropping in under 30 days. Start to pull them as soon as some are big enough.

For early spring planting try French Breakfast, or the monster variety D'Avignon, which can grow to over 40cm without going hard and woody. Belrosa is marvellous radish for autumn and winter use and my neighbour tells me that this variety also grows well when planted in the spring by accident! Alternatively, try the black variety, Spanish Round, which has crisp white flesh and should provide you with plenty of tasty radishes well into the winter from a July/August sowing. If you like really big radishes, there's also Minowase, a July sown, Japanese mouli radish with long white roots weighing up to 2kg. Its white flesh is crisp and mild in flavour. Grate it and eat it raw in salads, or cut it into matchstick pieces and cook it in stir-fries, or in Japanese-style miso soup. Another autumn radish of note is China Rose. This variety has white, firm and rather pungent flesh, with a carmine skin. This year I am also going to try out 'Giant of Sicily', just to see if it really does grow as big as its name implies! Producing bright red roots of up to 5cm in width, this radish has a long growing season and can be sown from spring until late autumn. By the way, all of the radishes mentioned above are available from the Organic Gardening Catalogue and Giant of Sicily can also be purchased from Suffolk Herbs. Suffolk Herbs also sells 'Easter Egg', a variety of radish that comes in four different colours: red, pink, purple and white. This one is great fun for children to grow! If you can't wait to taste your first radish, then try '18 day', which is a very fast-growing radish with a mild flavour. And if you can't make your mind up which one to grow first after reading this article, then Suffolk Herbs also does a mixed packet of seeds, giving a blend of shapes and colours - ideal for the indecisive!

There are two interesting autumn/winter radishes listed in the Thomson & Morgan 2005 catalogue, which I have yet to try. These Chinese radishes are both sown in June or July. They are 'Green Goddess', with green-skinned, pear-shaped roots and 'Mantanghong F1 Hybrid' with white-skinned tennis ball size roots, which have a bright magenta inner core. If you like really hot radishes, then do try T & M's 'Flamboyant Sabina'. Wow! Another giant radish that is well worth growing is 'Duro'. This globe radish has a shiny red skin and white centre and can reach 10cm in diameter. Unlike many other types of radishes it should not go woody. It's also available from Thompson & Morgan.

Finally, if your radishes do decide to bolt, don't panic! Just allow them to flower. Radish flowers are attractive to many insects, being especially popular with white butterflies. After flowering allow the plants to set seed, leaving the pods on the plant to dry for as long as possible before shelling out the seeds. Radish seeds can easily be sprouted, either in a jar or in a tiered sprouter such as the Being Fare. If you find the radish sprouts' tangy flavour too hot, then eat them mixed with a milder sprout such as alfalfa. For more information on sprouting read my article, or consult a copy of The Sprouters Handbook by Edward Cairney (Argyll, 1997). Incidentally, radish seeds for sprouting can be purchased from Suffolk Herbs and from the Organic Gardening Catalogue.

Some Online Suppliers of Radish Seeds:

Thomson & Morgan Ltd, Freepost IH1361, Ipswich, IP8 3BR. Tel: 01473 695225.
The Organic Gardening Catalogue, Riverdene, Molesey Road, Hersham, Surrey, KT12 4RG. Tel: 0845 130 1304.
Suffolk Herbs, Monks Farm, Coggeshall Road, Kelvedon, Essex CO5 9PG. Tel: 01376 572456.