My radishes don't plump. I get long red roots above ground but they are only about an eighth of an inch in diameter. The radished germinate very quickly. They have large leaves but they don't have any flesh. The garden is fifteen years old. It is basically clay but compost is dug into it every year. There are worms in the soil. What do I have to do to get these little suckers to plump up?
Nice use of pedagogy, however the question was about maximizing the gastronomical diameter of the little sucker and not germination, though it was a nice slide show. I could almost see my seeds germinating in mid-air as they plummeted into my garden. A couple of days later, there were little leaves poking-up where the seeds had been deposited.
Steve, of course I planted them too closely, for the most part. I made a couple of pre-emptive thinnings but it still wasn't enough. Even the radishes that had no immediate neighbors came up scrawny. The soil is probably over watered but not soggy. You can't squeeze water out of it.
Shazzbat, I think I can find something eles to grow if all I'm going to get be strings. I just thought that radishes would make a nice condiment for our salads.
You know, my Mom always had that blind spot. What's more, I've never understood how my Mom could have met sooo many people. I got people calling me a S.O.B. all the time and I find it hard to belive that she met all of them.
Thanks y'all, but I think I'm gonna find me something else to grow.
I've had most success with radishes when planting in containers of compost, thinning well. If you're having no luck with the roots this year, have you thought about eating the leaves in a salad?
Hadn't thought about eating the leaves. I'll give it a go. Is tere a chance that I need to use a mid-summer radish. Possibly I used a precocious variety. I've already pulled half of the radishes. Goodby radishes. Hello brussel sprouts. Didn't know where I was going to plant them.
Have you thought about eating the seed pods? A few years ago we grew radish variety 'rat's tail', grown specifically for the pods which were nicely spicy,and great eaten raw in salads. You don't need more than a couple of plants at most though, by the time it's flowered it will be a 4ft dia bush. I think I'm going to grow them again next year now I've been reminded.
I would have thought (and logic is only as good as its' premise) that the tops and the root would have come into some sort of balance; volume wise. I don't use pharmaceutical nitrogen but manure (this year it was steer). The compost and mulch is grape pumace. Worms everywhere! The root garden was my old lettuce garden but I decided to rotate the crop this year. Sowed carrots but I never saw them. Small slugs (the size of maggots) and rolly-pollies are the suspects. Beets are showing tops and I think some of the parsnips may have survived. It's on drip irrigation so the bed never goes dry.
I'm getting ready to sow carrots and parsnips again. If it's not too late (region 9), I may try some pod radishes as well. I'm on a hillside and the lower I go, the less sun there is. Here in N. California, we had a late start to the season because of rain until May. Although it is warmer than last year, it has been a cool year so far. With any luck we will get another Indian summer, like last year, to carry us into November.
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