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They start selling radishes in the spring, and we buy them in order to quickly fill the body weakened after the winter with vitamins. Summer residents are in a hurry to sow it in their gardens as early as possible, but you can also grow it at home. At home, it can be quite convenient to grow radishes on the windowsill. The main thing is that in winter during the heating season it should not be near a hot battery. At home, you can do this at least all year round, growing radishes on the windowsill does not require preliminary preparation or the creation of special conditions in the apartment.
Varieties for growing at home
If we are already going to grow radishes on the windowsill at home, you need to choose the right variety for this variety. It is best to take early ripening ones, but the most important thing is not even the speed of ripening, but resistance to shooting and lack of reaction to lack of lighting. As a rule, not only those who do not have a garden at all, but also those who want to continue the vitamin season even in winter, undertake to grow vegetables at home, and here short daylight hours and central heating can become an obstacle. Therefore, it is better to choose radish varieties that grow quickly and do not require ideal conditions.
Perhaps the radish variety “16 days” ripens the fastest. The round, bright red roots can be harvested 16–18 days after sowing, becoming tough later. It is very convenient that they are in no hurry to shoot and do not crack, which means that they can be perfectly grown at home.
Diego (a hybrid with root crops up to 18 cm in diameter) and Dabel (tolerates temperature drops perfectly) ripen from 25 to 5 days, their root crops do not dry out from the inside and remain crisp for a long time.
20–30 days after germination, the Deca variety radish is harvested, whose raspberry root crops grow more than 3 cm. This variety is also good because it is in no hurry to shoot even with long daylight hours.
“Champion” is ready to eat 25-28 days after planting, its roots do not become flabby or hollow.
And the “French Breakfast” variety, in addition to early ripening, is famous for the fact that it does not require hasty harvesting – its pink roots remain crisp for a long time after ripening, and the pink skin remains tender and juicy.
You can choose one or more of these varieties so that the radish on the windowsill at home brings only pleasure without disappointment.
The subtleties of growing radishes on the windowsill
Growing radishes on the windowsill at home can fail for two reasons: too high air temperature and inappropriate daylight hours.
Radish is considered a cold-resistant crop, it can easily survive even small frosts, but excessive heat makes it throw all its strength into shooting, flowering, and not growing a root crop.
If there is an unheated room at home where you can provide an air temperature of 18–20 degrees, then it is there that you can grow radishes on the windowsill. The ideal daylight hours should be 10-12 hours. A window sill, near which there are no heating appliances, is a wonderful place for this culture. If such conditions can be created, then at home the radish will delight the owners at least all year round. You need to sow it every 2 weeks in small batches, then the crop will constantly ripen and your family will not lack a vitamin-mineral complex with excellent absorption.
In the summer, after 18-oo, seedlings should be covered from the sun with an opaque covering material. And in winter, respectively, illuminate with fluorescent lamps so that the plantings receive light for at least 10 hours daily.
The soil is suitable for the most common, which is sold for growing vegetables. If there is an opportunity and desire, then you can cook it yourself – mix an equal amount of garden soil (preferably black soil), sand and humus (or compost). You can add some wood ash. Only for use at home, it certainly needs to be disinfected, this is done by exposure to low or high temperatures – freezing on the street or balcony, heating on a stove or stove. If this is not possible, then before sowing, you need to shed it with a strong solution of potassium permanganate.
Any dish that is usually used for seedlings will do – wooden boxes, plastic glasses, clay pots. The main thing is that the depth is at least 15 cm (better even more) and there are drainage holes. It is very convenient to use special cassettes for seedlings: one plant grows in cells, and a common tray collects excess water. It is important that each plant has its own place with a diameter of at least 5 cm, and if the description of the variety promises large root crops, then even more.
Whatever dish you choose, you need to arrange a drainage layer of expanded clay or any other suitable material, pour soil on top so that a few centimeters remain to the top of the dish, tamp it down. Before sowing, seeds are also disinfected with potassium permanganate, left warm and moist at night – just wrap them in several layers of wet gauze.
Sowing is carried out to a depth of 1 cm, then covered with a film or glass for several days, periodically moistening with a spray bottle. After the emergence of seedlings, the shelter is removed, and the plants are subjected to hardening, lowering the air temperature to + 6–8 degrees for several days. When growing radishes on the windowsill at home, not everyone adheres to this procedure, it is difficult to say exactly how it or its absence affects the crop.
If vegetables grow at the same temperature, if they are not threatened by frost, as on the street, then the hardening procedure loses its meaning.
Care
Radish on the windowsill should be watered regularly with water at room temperature, you should not overmoisten it too much, but you should not overdry it either. It is advisable to turn the dishes so that the plants do not stretch in one direction towards the light source.
If the soil is not fertile enough, then a week after germination, and then during the formation of root crops, the plants are fed. A solution of ash is perfect for the first time and mineral fertilizers for the second. But usually the radish on the windowsill has enough nutrients that are in properly prepared soil, and it is impossible to sow the second time in the same soil.
After watering, the soil around the plants must be loosened, if there is a dense planting, then thin out, weeds cannot be allowed to appear. That’s all the care for this culture on the windowsill. The crop should be harvested in a timely manner so that it does not happen that the well-grown root crops crack or become stiff.
Video “Home radish in winter”
This video is about how you can grow radishes on a windowsill under LED lights in winter.
