Radishes how long to harvest

Radishes are quick, easy and fun to grow from seed, ready to eat in as little as four weeks. These compact plants can be grown in even the smallest of gardens and are great gap-fillers on the veg plot. Sow small batches every few weeks for harvesting throughout summer, to add a crunchy tang to your salads.

There are even varieties for winter cropping. Aim to provide consistent conditions to ensure they grow well without any checks to their growth. This can be in the ground, in containers or even in a growing bag. For an early crop, sow in February into pre-warmed soil and protect with cloches.

Sow summer cultivars from March to mid-August. If sowing more than one row, keep them 15cm 6in apart. If thinning is required, do it as soon as possible. This can be tricky in hot dry summer weather, so take care to water regularly.

Leaves are covered in small holes and damaged areas turn brown. Seedlings are particularly susceptible. Grow plants under horticultural fleece and keep the soil moist. Water in nitrogen-rich fertilser to help the crop outgrow the pest.

These feed on the young seedlings and you'll see the tell tale slime trail on the soil around your crop, as well as on the leaves. There are many ways to control slugs and snails, including beer traps, sawdust or eggshell barriers, copper tape and biocontrols.

This is a common disease of brassicas, as they are not in the ground so long. The leaves will turn yellow, with white, fuzzy patches on the undersides. The root may also turn brown. Remove infected plants as soon as you see them. Summer radishes are best harvested young, in as little as four weeks from germination, when the roots are about 2. My first couple of seasons growing radishes, I was nervous if anything was happening under the surface at all.

My plants produced lots of lush green leaves above ground, but when I harvested them, I was disappointed by the tap root size. I know, this one seems obvious, but how many of us have tried to assemble a piece of furniture without reading the directions?

I planted my first round of French breakfast radishes in early March and later thinned some of the growth to give my top seedlings adequate space to grow their tap roots. I came out to check their growth a little over 30 days later as the packet recommended. As above, so below, so to speak. On the other hand, if one shoot has grown significantly taller than its neighbors, the radish attached to it will probably be just a little too big.

The shoulder of a radish is the part that pushes up against the topsoil, the part that breaks through when you give the shoots overhead a good tug. Use your finger to sweep around the base of the greens a bit to see if you can feel the shoulders. If you harvest them too late, they can become very starchy. I wanted to grow huge radishes for a photoshoot one year; they may have looked camera-ready, but they ended up tasting awful. Here's how to salvage your radishes if you leave them in the soil too long.

Home How to Grow plants How to grow radishes from seed. How to grow radishes. Step 1 Prepare the bed before sowing on a dry day.

Growing radishes — raking the soil level. Growing radishes — sowing radish seed. Growing radishes — watering the ground. Growing radishes — thinning out radish seedlings. Growing radishes — harvesting radishes. Buy now for instant colour. Offer Ends: Friday, 10 December, Clematis 'Winter Beauty'.