Grow Your Own Radishes

Lesson 2: Thinning Radish Seedlings

Rapid Progress
Radishes are quick to please. Under normal conditions, the first seedlings appear in less than a week. After around 10 days, you should have a row of fair-sized seedlings. Nothing beats the excitement of following these first days of a crop's progress. And, if this is your first stab at growing your own veg, that excitement is very special indeed. Enjoy the moment!

Making Room
Mind you, this is no time to sit on your laurels. There's work to be done if you want to raise a crop of perfect radishes. All young plants need room to breathe in order to develop properly. Once they're big enough to handle (usually 10-14 days), examine the row of seedlings and identify strong-looking plants around 2.5cms apart. Remove the weaker ones, taking care not to disturb your target seedlings. Don't forget to water the young plants. If you're experiencing wet weather, there's no need to get your watering can out. But, during dry spells, you'll need to water them at least once a week. Attach a fine sprinkler head to your watering can, to avoid washing away the seedlings before you get a chance to eat them.

Eliminating Competitors
If radishes don't like being crowded out by their own kind, they certainly don't take kindly to competing with weeds for precious resources. Keeping weeds down is about more than just making your vegetable plot look tidy. Every weed in the ground is hogging nutrition that could be going towards making your veggies big and strong. So, show no mercy! Use a hoe to chop up young weeds before they can take hold. If you're confronted with a deep-rooted weed, use a trowel or hand fork to dig deep and remove the whole plant, including the root. Don't put deep-rooted weeds into your own compost: they'll cause problems if you do.

Pic: GAP Photos/Maddie Thornhill