Radishes
Cool
season crop. Rated excellent for indoor and outdoor containers. Radishes are really the apartment farmer’s vegetable
since they ignore amateur mistakes, and they mature rapidly. I especially like them because of the variety. They run, for
instance, from round red, to one-third white, to two-thirds white, to all-white round and all-white long. Just take your pick.
(note
from me, they also come in black, Black Spanish radishes are big, crispy, white on the inside with a black exterior. Very
tasty.)
How to Grow.
You can easily grow radishes in a 4-8 inch soil depth. Plant seeds 1 inch apart, then
add 1/2 inch of soil to top. Keep moist. Sow in indoor containers any time, sow outdoors in patio containers two to four weeks
before the last killing frost..
In the book, varieties he mentions are; Cherry Belle, French Breakfast, Sparkler, Burpee
White, White Icycle, those are the ordinary ones, and the winter ones are; White Chinese and China Rose.
How to Use.
Use
4-inch pots, both indoors and out. Grow on shelves under fluorescent lights. Grow in hanging pots. Make a salad-garden tree
on your patio, using two 4x4 posts with small pot shelves. Grow post of radishes at different levels.
4-inch pot tips.
Grow
four to five radishes per 4-inch pot.
Under lights.
You can grow radishes very quickly under two 40 watt fluorescent
tubes. Grow just like outdoors.
Typical Problems.
My radishes are too hot. You let the soil dry out.
Keep it moist.
My
radishes are pithy. Summer-grown radishes turn pithy rapidly. Try giving them some shade.
Harvesting tips.
Begin
pulling radishes as soon as they are about the size of a small marble. Discard radishes that are pithy.
-
Taken
from "The Apartment Farmer" by Duane Newcomb
In more southern areas, you could probably be planting some radishes now.
If you
want some for your deck or patio or apartment balcony, go ahead and get some seeds and a container and get some going, you
can move them outside later when the weather warms up.