Radish: Sowing, planting and harvest calendar
How do you sow your radishes outdoors?
First choose your radish variety and its sowing season. Small salad radishes, large winter radishes and radishes grown for their edible pods need different amounts of space and different growing periods. For small salad radishes, choose a cool spell; strong heat and insufficient water can reduce quality and encourage bolting.
Prepare loose, well-drained soil and remove large stones. Water the drill before sowing if the ground is dry. For small salad radishes, sow about one centimetre deep in rows roughly fifteen centimetres apart. Sow thinly, then leave a few centimetres between the young plants. Large-rooted varieties need more room: use the spacing specified for the variety you have chosen rather than applying the same distance to every radish.
Close the drill gently and keep moisture even during emergence without waterlogging the soil. Label the rows so you can weed without pulling out your seedlings. Sow small batches in succession instead of one large batch. Watch subsequent growth rather than expecting every radish to be ready after three weeks; winter types develop over a much longer period.
How to care for this plant
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Thin seedlings
If emerged radishes are already crowded, remove the weakest. Follow packet spacing: winter radishes need more room.
When should radishes be harvested?
Observe your radishes rather than counting three weeks for every variety. Small spring radishes are harvested young, often after four to six weeks, whereas winter radishes and large oriental types take longer. Check the seed packet and look at the diameter of the root at soil level. Weather and growing conditions affect how quickly the crop develops.
Lift a few roots to check their size and texture, then harvest the ready ones progressively. Pull gently at the base of the leaves, loosening the soil if it resists so you do not break the roots. Small radishes left too long can become hollow or fibrous. Winter radishes follow a different timetable and may remain in the ground longer when conditions allow.
Sort the crop and use fresh salad radishes promptly. For short storage in the refrigerator, remove the leaves and limit drying, checking the roots regularly. If you grow a variety for edible pods, leave the plants to flower and pick the pods while tender. Pod harvest depends on their development rather than the size of the root.
Radish
- Type : Vegetables
- Subtype : Root vegetables
- Botanical Family : Brassicaceae (cruciferous)
Characteristics
- Lifecycle : Annual
- Exposure : Partial Shade
- Frost Hardiness : Frost Resistant
- Cultivation Difficulty : Easy
- Mature height : 15 cm
Sowing & Planting
- Greenhouse crops : Unheated greenhouse
- Greenhouse Growing : Not Required
- Sowing Depth : 1 cm
- Plant Spacing : 5 cm
- Row Spacing : 20 cm
Maintenance
- Maintenance : Low
- Water Requirements : Moderate
Other characteristics
- Soil Type : Humus-rich
- Soil pH Preference : Neutral
- Pest Sensitivity : Moderate
- Disease Sensitivity : Low
- Weed Sensitivity : Moderate
- Pollination : Insect-pollinated
- Propagation : Sowing