Growing Radish

Raphanus sativas : Brassicaceae / the mustard or cabbage family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
    P P P     P        

(Best months for growing Radish in USA - Zone 5a regions)

  • P = Sow seed
  • Easy to grow. Sow in garden. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed. Best planted at soil temperatures between 8°C and 30°C. (Show °F/in)
  • Space plants: 3 - 5 cm apart
  • Harvest in 5-7 weeks.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Chervil, cress,lettuce, leeks, spinach, strawberries, tomatoes
  • Avoid growing close to: Hyssop, gherkins

Your comments and tips

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18 Dec 22, (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
It is about picking the variety you like.
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04 Oct 22, ELIZABETH (USA - Zone 7b climate)
I had no idea you could actually eat the green end of a radish until i started gardening myself this past year. doing research on the when and hows has taught me so much and the green end of the radish was actually really good! Great flavor! thank you for gardeners and gardening! So much peace in my life now!!
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29 Sep 22, Chris (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Hint: Radish leaves can be used as a stir fry green.
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19 Jan 22, Warren (Australia - temperate climate)
I always grow radish but often let them get too fibrey. I let some go to seed, amd found my sugarbag bees loved them. I then let them go to seed and found the young, tender seed pods are tastier than the radish itself, and you get far more output as they seed like crazy. Pickling the pods also works well, so now I grow them for the seed pods, and the bees. I recommend trying it
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20 Jan 22, (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Pick your radish when they have grown to the right size and put them down in the veggie section of fridge - they will keep for weeks. They are more a late autumn winter early spring crop in sub tropics.
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20 Jan 22, Celeste Archer (Canada - Zone 7b Mild Temperate climate)
What kind of radishes are you growing?
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26 Jun 21, Jane (Australia - tropical climate)
I'm growing radishes for the first time.Tasty! What does 'they will mark the rows' mean? Thanx.
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29 Jun 21, Kasy in SE WI (USA - Zone 5a climate)
Radish will mark the row next door if planted next to some other seeds that come up in more days than radishes. For example if you plant __?__ veggie that comes up in 10 days, next to a row of radishes, the radishes will come up certainly by day 2 ( all things present as to sunlight and water). That mean the ?? veggie will be along side and in next row but not until day 10. That way you know not to plant something else in row space next to radishes. Neat trick I never thought of. Wish I had marked my lettuce groups with one radish seed in middle.
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29 Jun 21, Anon (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
They are talking about planting radish with other seeds to mark the row. Like a couple of radish between two lettuce seeds/plants. Radish will germinate in 2-5 days to show where the others are planted. I suggest you do a thin line of radish.by itself. Plant the other seeds in a different row. What I do now is have soil nice and fine and level, pat it down a bit., then plant seeds in a thin row - pinch a few seeds in your fingers and wriggle your fingers to release a seed or two at a time. Then cover the seeds with seed raising mix or fine potting mix. Try and keep the seeds shaded until they germinate. Keep the plant area moist all the time.
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02 Oct 21, Selina (Australia - temperate climate)
This is great advice for a beginner. Thanks.
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Showing 11 - 20 of 144 comments
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Your Black Spanish Radishes are a a winter variety - Germination (seed to seedling) happens at temps of 50f - 75f (10c - 24c) and will take 6 to 10 days. --they take anywhere from 30 to 70 days to mature (that is from sprouted seedling to harvest) - you can harvest them when they are about 3" to about 5". Plant anywhere from about two months before the first expected fall frost to 3 weeks before the first expected fall frost. Your best option is to figure out your first expected frost date - count back 8 weeks and call that your "expected planting date" - then check LAST years temperatures at or around your "expected planting date" -- if the temperatures sync up with the germination temperatures (10c - 24c) for Black Spanish Radishes, then it is a good time to plant, if not try and tweak your "expected planting date" so you will have the correct germination temperatures - and enough time for your radishes to grow. The reason your days to harvest has such a wide range is: you can harvest from 3" up to 5" -- additionally, when planting closer to fall/winter the number of hours of sunlight (and the intensity) varies a lot - for example: in my area on August 10th I get 14:36:05 hours of daylight .... and on September 30th I get 11:43:20 hours of daylight -- both are fairly good planting dates with August 10, 2022 having temps of (high/low) 20.4c/ 12.8c AND September 30th having temps highs of 20.4c and lows of 8.7c ==> but September has about 20% less daylight hours and the suns intensity is much weaker -- this means radishes planted in September will take longer to grow and mature than radishes planted in August.

- Celeste Archer

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