Growing Radish

Raphanus sativas : Brassicaceae / the mustard or cabbage family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
P P P P P P P P P P P P

(Best months for growing Radish in New Zealand - cool/mountain regions)

  • P = Sow seed
  • Easy to grow. Sow in garden. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed. Best planted at soil temperatures between 8°C and 30°C. (Show °F/in)
  • Space plants: 3 - 5 cm apart
  • Harvest in 5-7 weeks.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Chervil, cress,lettuce, leeks, spinach, strawberries, tomatoes
  • Avoid growing close to: Hyssop, gherkins
  • Cherry radish
  • French Breakfast radishes

Small, spicy tasting root vegetable usually round but some longer varieties. Available in a range of colours between red and white.

Very easy to grow. Good for a child's first garden as seedlings appear in two or three days. Sow between other vegetables as they will mark the rows until the slower germinating plants appear.

Culinary hints - cooking and eating Radish

Wash well and remove leaves and roots.
Use raw in salads or on their own with bread and butter.

Your comments and tips

10 Apr 08, Sophie (Unknown climate)
Long Scarlet radishes are good in a stirfry. All radishes make a great pickle.
30 May 08, Rex (Unknown climate)
Could I please know why my radishes are so bitter? Last year tasted nice!
30 May 08, Chris (Unknown climate)
Rex, I've found lack of water at any stage during growth will make radish turn bitter. It's also a dreadful problem with cucumbers - one day of wilting makes them completely inedible!
10 Jun 08, christine (Unknown climate)
Can you eat the leaves of radish e.g. in salad or cooked
11 Jun 08, Chris (Unknown climate)
Christine, you can probably eat them without harm (they're a brassica), but the leaves are usually covered in prickly hairs, so why you'd want to is the main question - I would rather just eat the radish. You can certainly eat turnip and beetroot leaves, so radish leaves might be ok cooked? Perhaps you can let us know how you go with them?
07 Aug 08, amy maloney (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate)
tips for growing radishes?
07 Aug 08, sal (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
how long will it take for the radish seeds to be visible??
18 Sep 08, Michelle (Australia - temperate climate)
Make sure radishes have enough water and don't let them become too enormous. If they are water deprived or get too big, they can become bitter. From sowing to harvesting, they are one of the quickest growers (if happy...6-8 weeks). They also love a dose of potash.
03 Nov 08, Eugenia (New Zealand - temperate climate)
Does anyone know why some of my radishes are splitting? Only some came out perfect.
01 Dec 12, Ruth (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate)
The most likely reason is that you have left them in the ground too long.
Showing 1 - 10 of 144 comments

Your Black Spanish Radishes are a a winter variety - Germination (seed to seedling) happens at temps of 50f - 75f (10c - 24c) and will take 6 to 10 days. --they take anywhere from 30 to 70 days to mature (that is from sprouted seedling to harvest) - you can harvest them when they are about 3" to about 5". Plant anywhere from about two months before the first expected fall frost to 3 weeks before the first expected fall frost. Your best option is to figure out your first expected frost date - count back 8 weeks and call that your "expected planting date" - then check LAST years temperatures at or around your "expected planting date" -- if the temperatures sync up with the germination temperatures (10c - 24c) for Black Spanish Radishes, then it is a good time to plant, if not try and tweak your "expected planting date" so you will have the correct germination temperatures - and enough time for your radishes to grow. The reason your days to harvest has such a wide range is: you can harvest from 3" up to 5" -- additionally, when planting closer to fall/winter the number of hours of sunlight (and the intensity) varies a lot - for example: in my area on August 10th I get 14:36:05 hours of daylight .... and on September 30th I get 11:43:20 hours of daylight -- both are fairly good planting dates with August 10, 2022 having temps of (high/low) 20.4c/ 12.8c AND September 30th having temps highs of 20.4c and lows of 8.7c ==> but September has about 20% less daylight hours and the suns intensity is much weaker -- this means radishes planted in September will take longer to grow and mature than radishes planted in August.

- Celeste Archer

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