Growing radishes: ready to harvest in a few weeks
Radishes are the vegetable for the impatient: only a few weeks pass between sowing and harvest. That makes them ideal for the first attempts in the bed in spring and as gap fillers.
Sowing
- Direct sowing into the bed or into boxes as soon as the soil can be worked; late summer works too
- Sow in batches: A small row every one to two weeks is better than many at once – that way there are always fresh radishes
- Marker rows: Sown between carrots or parsnips, radishes show where the row is before the slow crops germinate
Care
- Evenly moist: Drought makes radishes woody and hot
- Flea beetles: These small beetles eat holes in the leaves; keeping the soil moist and a fine-mesh net help
Harvest and storage
Harvest radishes in time – left too long in the bed they turn pithy. For storage, remove the leaves and keep them in the fridge's vegetable drawer (BZfE (German Federal Centre for Nutrition), "Richtig lagern" (as of 20 Feb 2025)). The young leaves can be used in pesto or salad.
Sources
- German Federal Centre for Nutrition (BZfE): Richtig lagern, as of 20 Feb 2025, accessed 5 Oct 2026
The sources support individual statements in this article. The organisations named have neither reviewed nor endorsed it.