Super food the humble radish

Did you know that Radishes are classed as one of the super-foods? This small peppery tasting salad vegetable is often maligned and under used but it should be eaten liberally when in season.

What can be most health giving though are the roots and the leaves of these small plants. These are almost always discarded when you prepare radishes for eating by top, tail and washing them.

The leaves of the plant though contain more Vitamin-C, protein and calcium than their roots. Radishes contain Vitamin-C, zinc, B-complex vitamins and phosphorus. In fact you can find a wide range of uses and health benefits detailed here. Apart from eating radishes, they may become part of your beauty regime.

What we love about radishes though is their distinctive taste added to the fact that they are quick and easy to grow. You will not need a huge garden or plot of land. If you monitor the radishes growth and plant new seeds at regular intervals you will have a bountiful crop.

Here is one of our earlier articles regarding growing radishes from seed:

Well let's get started. First let's make sure we all know what radishes are. They are those small round red. pink or white, slightly peppery tasting salad vegetables. Good radishes are firm and crunchy to bite into.

As with most vegetables radishes have quite a few different varieties. What all radishes have in common though is that they are all quick and easy to grow. You do not need a large garden as they can be grown from seed in trugs, troughs, planters and the like. Convinced?

The seeds

You can buy a packet of radish seeds fairly cheaply from garden centres or supermarkets. As a rough amount a packet of seeds containing 500 seeds will cost you about 40p. We opted for a packet of seeds from Asda for £1 that contained lettuce, spring onion and two different varieties of radish seeds.

Containers

You can grow vegetables such as radishes even if you do not have a garden, They do not require a massive amount of space. Plastic round trugs which retail from between £2 to £8 are perfect for the job in hand. Remember to drill a couple of drainage holes in the bottom though before planting.

Compost

Radishes grow so easily that a basic multi-purpose compost will be fine. Buy a huge bag as it works out cheaper.

Best location

Radishes will thrive in a sunny spot. Summer in the UK can be a hit and miss affair so choose an area that has the most sunlight. Ensure though that they will not get too much sun on a daily basis. Radishes might like sun but they do not want to get too hot.

Planting
Ideally plant in rows at a depth of around 1/2 an inch. Cover with soil or compost.

Aim to leave a space between each seed. Some radish seeds are a fair size and this is easy to do with these seeds.

Helpful advice

• Within about 10 days your seedlings will be strong enough to thin out.
• Ideally try to plant the seeds with enough room so that the thinning out needed is minimal.
• If you do thin them out discard weak underdeveloped seedlings in order for the strongest to survive.
• Keep weeds and other plants away from your radishes if you have planted directly into your garden.
• In Summer the radishes will ready to eat in a month or less.
• Radishes need plenty of water and so are perfect for a normal British Summer.
• In hot and dry conditions water liberally each evening.
• Watch out for slugs, pests and birds who may want to eat your crop before you can.
• If you want a continuing crop of radishes throughout the Summer sow seeds from the end of April, every couple of weeks.
• Radishes will be tastier if eaten as soon as ready rather than left in the ground.

Harvesting

Take care not to disturb ant surrounding radishes that are not yet ready to harvest. Gently put your hand around the radish under the soil or compost. You will be able to assess if the radish is large and mature. If it is gently pull up. Snap the top leaves and bottom root of for washing and eating. Throw the discarded leaves and roots into your composter.

Overall

As radishes are so easy and quick to grow they are perfect for beginners and children to grow. So? What are you waiting for?

​Grow radish from seed
Grow lettuce from seed