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Rich in phosphorus, calcium, sodium, magnesium, iron and vitamins, radish is a welcome guest on our tables. It has a positive effect on the cardiovascular system and gastrointestinal tract, helps to restore strength after the winter with its colds and colds. This is the earliest vegetable that grows in our garden, which means that the sowing of radishes in open ground occurs earlier than other vegetables, when they are just beginning to prepare a place for them. When is the best time to plant a radish, and what kind of care does it require in the open field?
Vegetable Description
In our gardens, we cultivate the annual plant radish of the Cabbage (Cruciferous) family for the sake of the root crop, which is actually a modified shortened stem. A rosette of leaves is formed above it, and a taproot grows from below with a small number of lateral roots. The leaves can be different shades of green, from dark green to very light yellowish green. The root of most cultivated varieties grows from 15 to 30 cm.
Until the desired maturity of the root crop, it takes from 20 to 40 days after sowing, depending on the variety and care. This is the time when it acquires the greatest taste value and concentration of nutrients. The root crop can have a different shape and color – it can be red, white, yellow, purple, round or flattened ball, long cylinder or spindle. It can be small, weighing only 15-20 g, medium – up to 50 g, large – up to 200 g. The Japanese love to grow a giant radish, which their breeders have thoroughly worked on.
If you do not dig up the root crop, then the plant develops further – it forms a stem, flower stalks, flowers, fruits. From the moment of sowing to the ripening of fruits, it takes from 150 to 170 days. Flowers are white, pink, even purple, they are collected in a raceme inflorescence. Radishes are cross-pollinated plants. In order to preserve the properties of the variety, other varieties or related plants (especially radish) should not be allowed to grow at a distance of 200 m.
Flowering lasts a month, when it ends, a fruit is formed – a dry pod, the seeds ripen 65 or 70 days after flowering. Radish seeds are small brown, round or flat-round, they remain viable for 5–6 years. When buying seeds, you should pay attention to their color – from old age, the brown color gives way to gray. 1 g of seeds contains up to 130 pieces.
In the industrial production of seeds, plants are simply allowed to grow and develop without changing care, and in summer cottages, gardeners speed up this process by transplanting the mother plant (mother plant) to another place. When it is planted in a new place, care is changed (for example, the watering schedule), then the plant most likely throws out an arrow from the resulting stress. This is facilitated by high temperatures and increasing daylight hours.
Terms of planting
Planting radishes in open ground occurs earlier than other vegetables due to its ability not to suffer from the cold and even easily endure night frosts. Nighttime -6 degrees will not interfere with this vegetable, the main thing is that during the day the temperature rises above +10 degrees, so that shoots appear sooner. If the temperature rises to +15 degrees, then seedlings should be expected in a week, when heat is set in the region of +20, then sprouts appear on the 4th or 5th day.
Usually, radishes begin to be sown in late March or early April, when the sun is already warming up. To speed up the germination process, crops can be covered with a film or agrofibre. The root crop grows best at an air temperature of +20 degrees. When it gets hotter, daylight hours lengthen, the plants rush to shoot, which is why radishes are grown in spring and autumn.
If we take into account that the harvest is taken after 16–20 days for early varieties or 40 days for the latest varieties from the moment of sowing, then it is possible to calculate the time when it is better to plant radishes so that they ripen before the heat.
Seeds can be sown in a few days so that the crop ripens almost constantly, but not at the same time, since radishes, especially early radishes, cannot be stored for more than a few days without loss of taste and useful properties.
They usually take a break for the summer, and then they start sowing radishes again at the end of August or September. Those who want to eat a fresh vitamin vegetable all summer plant it, and then cover the plantings with an opaque covering material from 18-oo daily to reduce daylight hours.
The most daring gardeners sow radishes before winter. Sowing occurs when the garden is already ready for winter, before the first frost, sometimes even after the first snow. Winter sowing will allow you to get a crop before the earliest variety planted in spring ripens.
Preparing for planting
A place for radishes on the site needs to be thought out and prepared in advance, preferably in the fall. It cannot be planted where its relatives from the Cabbage family used to grow, it will grow best after potatoes, onions, and garlic. You can plant this early vegetable among other, later ones, for example, tomatoes, cucumbers. Although it often happens that radishes are sown early, then they are harvested, and seedlings of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants are planted in their place.
The bed is prepared in an open, level place, preferably protected from the wind. Radish loves fertile, light, non-acidic soil. Since autumn, the site must be thoroughly dug up to a depth of 30 cm, compost or humus should be added, if it is necessary to deoxidize the soil, then lime. From mineral fertilizers, radish responds well to superphosphate, ammonium nitrate, and potassium chloride. The structure of heavy clay soil must be changed by adding river sand or peat.
Seeds can be sown unprepared, but in order to increase germination and reduce germination time, they are calibrated, for which they are sieved through a sieve with 2-3 mm cells, and then soaked in warm water or simply left in a damp cloth overnight. Large seeds will sprout well and with proper care they will grow into large root crops, so when choosing seeds, preference should be given to large with a brown color. The gray color of the seeds indicates their long storage and warns of poor germination. It is also desirable to disinfect the seeds by soaking for 30 minutes with a bright solution of potassium permanganate. All these manipulations should speed up the process of obtaining a crop and eliminate the disease of plants.
For winter sowing, a bed is prepared in the summer, even the grooves are marked, and then they cover it with a film, pressing it down along the edges so that it does not fly away with the wind.
Landing technology
Plant radishes in rows or nests. Between rows leave 10 cm, and between seeds in a row – from 3 to 5 cm, it depends on the expected size of the root crop. If planted in a nesting way, then between the plants on all sides there should be at least 5 cm of free space. If the plants are planted in rows, and every 1 m leave a path, then it will be easier to care for them.
Planting material is placed in a furrow or hole, after watering them with hot water, and then they fall asleep and tamp the moist soil so that the depth is no more than 1,5 cm. Some experienced gardeners pre-glue the seeds with flour paste at the right distance to narrow ribbons of thin paper (toilet or newspaper), and then simply put this paper ribbon in the groove and cover it with earth. To make it easier to sow small seeds, they are dried and mixed with white fine sand, so they are better seen on dark ground. But such crops will have to be thinned out, it is better to plant each seed in its place. Then, in the process of leaving, you will not need to break through them, that is, to disturb weak roots that are just starting to grow.
During the winter sowing, the seeds are placed in dry ground, the grooves are covered, rammed, and then the bed is mulched with compost, peat or simply dry earth, and snow is thrown on top if it has already fallen. This method will allow the seeds to overwinter at rest (at the same time harden), and then hatch when the ground thaws, and they are saturated with spring water from melting snow.
Video “Planting an early radish”
See how easy it is to plant radishes outdoors in early spring for a good harvest.
Features care
Caring for radishes involves watering, fertilizing (if necessary), loosening the soil, weeding, thinning, and pest control. Moisture should be constant, but stagnant water will not lead to good, so you need to water as the earth dries up, and to a sufficient depth. The root system of this vegetable does not develop too much, so moisture should get to the main tap root, to the depth that it reaches, and in some varieties it is 30 cm. It is advisable to carefully read the description of the variety.
The first watering after planting is carried out with warm water, using a watering can with a divider strainer. Warm water is especially useful if watering is done in the evening – it will allow you to keep warm when the temperature drops at night. Then, the growing plants are watered after about 2 or 3 days, but with high temperatures and wind the soil dries quickly, more frequent watering may be necessary.
In their short growing period, radishes should not experience nutrient deficiencies if the soil has been fertilized before planting. But if the land is very depleted, then top dressing can be carried out, which is easily combined with watering. A solution of slurry, bird droppings or mineral fertilizers is added to the water.
It must be remembered that from an overabundance of fertilizers (especially nitrogen ones), the radish can go into the arrow or simply grow greenery, and not the root crop.
In addition, radishes accumulate nitrates. Therefore, it is better to water with infusion of herbs, wood ash. Such not very concentrated dressings can simultaneously serve as a prevention of fungal diseases and repel pests. So, ash can get rid of slugs, snails, some types of aphids.
From the cruciferous flea, plantings are covered with a film for the duration of its activity. There are, of course, special chemicals for pest control, but many gardeners prefer natural remedies.
Proper care will minimize the risk of infection, pest attacks. So, you need to prevent weeds in the garden, remove plant debris, loosen the ground so that a crust does not form after watering. Moreover, the depth of loosening must be increased as the vegetables grow.
Mulching plantings with peat, compost, or simply cut grass will help facilitate care – you will have to loosen the soil less often, weeds will not grow, you can even water less often, since the moisture will not erode.
Video “Growing early radishes”
The author of this video shares the secrets of how to get a radish crop in early spring without greenhouses and without special care.
