PART I
This year I’m sowing four varieties of radish ‘Purple Plum’ ‘Sparkler’ ‘Zlata Yellow’ and ‘French Breakfast’. They can be sown as early as February but due to wet weather I’ve chosen to wait until March which to be honest isn’t much better on my plot 29 clay soil. I will sow some of all four varieties in succession to ensure I have a regular supply of colorful crisp radishes to go into my salads.
This crunchy peppery crop has been cultivated as far back as Egyptian times and after that was cultivated by the Chinese and Japanese. We are talking BC here! The Radishes cultivated then were Black Radishes, followed by white radishes in 16th century Europe and the round radish as we know it today didn’t make it on to plates until the 18th century.
I’m going to sow one variety after the other in a 1 cm deep drill and will continue sowing in succession every 14 days. My first lot of these beauties should be ready to pick 3-4 weeks, lets hope they don’t drown!
