As their name suggests, monthly radishes are harvested quickly and should be sown regularly. Also, discover summer radishes and winter radishes with different colors and tastes. These can be kept for several months, you will taste them in raw vegetables and benefit from their vitamins.
Needs
Apart from the summer when it supports light shade, the radish likes bright and sunny situations. This fast-cycle crop requires well-cultivated soil and scarce, but regular watering.
Crop rotation
Pluck radishes before frost
- From March to September, sow if necessary undercover at the beginning, in rows spaced 20 cm apart. Bury the round radishes very little and only 2 cm the half-long radishes. Harvest after a month.
- From March to July, sow summer radishes, in rows 25 cm apart. To harvest in 2 months. Winter radishes are sown from June to August, in rows 30 cm apart. They must be removed before frost and keep in a silo. All thin out and water, mulch the soil.
Pro tip: in spring and autumn, radishes appreciate the sun; in summer, partial shade, behind large vegetables. The soil will stay cool, the flea beetles will be less.
Associations
In the vicinity of carrot, cabbage, cucumber, watercress, spinach, beans, lettuce, mint, peas, rosemary, savory, ornamental tobacco, thyme, tomato.
Diseases and pests
The white turnip fly larvae tunnel into the roots. Aromatic plants are also effective.
Provide iron-based baits against slugs and snails. Do not forget to renew them after a heavy rain, at the start of cultivation.
Culture
Sow radishes
Radish germinates when the soil temperature reaches 8 ° C, but its growth is really active from 12 ° C. At room temperature, the ideal is between 15 and 18 ° C. Depending on the region, the best harvests are therefore obtained with sowing spread between February 15 and April 20. However, the first sowings in February and March are carried out under a forcing veil or a Nantes caterpillar. Remove these protections in the event of extreme heat (above 25 ° C) and at the start of tuberization. All radish sowing is carried out in rows 20 cm apart, up to 35 cm for very large roots. For round varieties, sow 20 seeds per meter at 1 cm deep; and for the half-long ones, place 30 seeds per meter at a depth of 2 cm.
Cover the seeds with 2 cm of fine soil (0.5 cm only for round varieties of monthly radishes).
Keep the soil cool until emergence (3 to 5 days).
Thin out the radishes
Thinning takes place 8 to 15 days after sowing – every 3 to 5 cm for small varieties, every 12 to 15 cm for larger ones.
Baste the radishes
Water regularly to limit the pungent flavor, the digging of the roots and the attacks of flea beetles, which puncture the foliage.
- Signs of dehydration: the foliage wilts, do not wait until the roots are hollowed out, prickly and stringy. The soil should stay cool.
- Frequency of watering: once or twice a week in summer, if the soil is mulched; less frequently in autumn.
- Water quality: indifferent.
- How to water: the foliage can get wet, so you will keep flea beetles away.
- Under shelter, bring 5 l / m² 3 times per week.
Fertilize the radish
Fertilizing radish consists of a simple input before sowing. This deep fertilization is only useful in soils poor in nutrients.
Maintenance and care
Radishes – like other plants of the same family (cabbage, turnip, arugula, etc.) – are frequently the victim of a formidable pest, the flea beetle. This little black garden flea stings the leaves, sieves them with tiny holes.
Stressed by these attacks, they then stop growing, becoming prickly or fibrous. They can, in some cases, be completely devoured upon emergence. This is why it is preferable, even if it is restrictive, to protect your crops mechanically. The ideal is to cover the seedling with an anti-insect veil which is quite expensive. A forcing sail may be sufficient at the beginning or at the end of the season, but it will heat too much the rest of the time.
Harvest
Pick up spring radishes 3-4 weeks after sowing, as needed. Do not wait until they are too big and hollow. Summer radishes are harvested 4 to 5 weeks after sowing. If they are too hot, cook them: they have delicious braised, like new turnips, just coated with honey at the end of cooking.
Radish varieties
| Radish to be sown undercover | ‘Pernot’, ‘To force scarlet round’. |
| Radish for sowing in the ground | ‘National’, ‘Flamboyant’. |
| Among the radishes of every month | ‘Bamba’, half-long, is cultivated in all seasons; ‘Gaudry 2’, round, can be installed under shelter or in the ground; ‘Cheriette’, round and all red, digs slowly, ideal in summer; ‘Falco’, round, red, neither digging nor stinging. |
| Summer radish | Adopt ‘Golden yellow oval’, with white flesh and rapid growth; ‘Giant of Würzburg’, round, red, does not sting; ‘Neckarruhm Weiss’, half-long, all white, develops a mild flavor. |
| For winter | ‘Rose deliver de Chine’ and ‘Violet de Gournay’ with white flesh; and ‘Black long clock weight’, with white flesh that can reach 25 cm. |
| Ice cube radish | Well suited to indoor production and early planting, try the amazing ‘Eiszapfen’ radish. White, 10 to 12 cm long, slow to dig, it owes its name of “ice cube” to its translucent flesh. Between the monthly radish and the winter radish, this variety is a good intermediary. |
| Surprising radish | Snake radish, an ancient vegetable. |
Leave a Reply