What A Vegetable Garden Without Winter Radish

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

How to grow a good harvest of your favorite and healthy radish vegetable

All kinds of vegetable exotics today you will not find on the beds of enthusiastic gardeners, but most often you will not see our usual northern radish. But each of us has known since school times that one of the main vegetables consumed by the Slavs was precisely the radish, which came to Russian land from Asia in time immemorial.

Indeed, in Russia radish has always been held in high esteem, and not a single dining table could do without it. Radish was in greatest demand on fasting days, because it allowed to somehow diversify the table - they ate it with butter and kvass, and just like that - cut into slices.

It is worth noting that this vegetable culture enjoyed a well-deserved fame not only in Russia. For example, the inscriptions on the Cheops pyramid tell about the radish, and it was the radish among the three main vegetables (along with beets and carrots) that the ancient Greeks brought to the altar of the god Apollo, and the carrots were pewter, the beets were silver, and the radish was gold (that is, it was much appreciated above). Radish is also respected in the East, where it has been included since the times of these, for example, as a basic component in the most beloved dish by Tibetans - tsamtuk stew, which is consumed almost daily.

Such popularity of the radish is quite natural, because it has no equal among root crops in terms of the content of potassium, calcium and magnesium salts, vitamins and microelements. The radish contains almost everything that is necessary for the vital activity of the body - sugars, proteins, vitamins, mineral salts, fiber, bactericidal substances and many other valuable components. Moreover, radish is a strong medicine, and it is black or winter radish (that is, the one that was traditionally grown in Russia) has the greatest therapeutic effect. Therefore, this vegetable should be in any garden, but growing it is not as easy as it seems.

× Gardener's handbook Plant nurseries Stores of goods for summer cottages Landscape design studios

Radish prefers …

Radish prefers fertile, not waterlogged soils with a deep arable layer, so it does not hurt to add a little humus, complex fertilizers and, without fail, ash to the ridges. Ash is by no means introduced in advance, since the substances contained in it on podzolic soils are very quickly washed out.

This plant prefers to grow on soils with a neutral reaction and does not tolerate acidic soils at all, on which it gets sick with keel. Specimens diseased with a keel will not be able to produce a crop, and the root crops grown on them will turn out to be inedible. Therefore, sowing radish after other cruciferous plants (cabbage, turnip), susceptible to this disease, is unacceptable - after cruciferous, radish is sown no earlier than 3-4 years later. Most often, the soil under the radish has to be limed in the fall, and during the growing season you should not spare ash, thanks to which the plants will be healthier and the roots more tasty.

Radish is a light-loving plant. Therefore, only well-lit areas are allocated for it and thickened crops are not allowed. With a thickened planting, the plants stretch out, and the roots do not fill, and with a lack of light, the radish does not form root crops at all. Most often, sowing is carried out in a square way according to the scheme of 15x15 or 20x20 cm. Such a rare sowing in a row usually justifies itself, since the germination of the radish is very good (which means that all the seeds will sprout), and free-standing plants will develop more actively from the very emergence of shoots and will stronger.

As for moisture, this culture really needs timely watering, and the slightest drying out of the soil does not affect the quality of root crops for the better. Therefore, regular watering in dry weather is a necessary condition for the formation of a high-quality radish harvest.

Sowing radish

Let me remind you that there are two types of radish - summer (reminiscent of radish in taste) and winter. Summer early ripening varieties are sown in late April or early May, and winter ones - in June (in the middle of June in our Central Urals). If the indicated deadlines are not met, then 99% of the plants will go into the arrow.

After sowing, the ridges are immediately carefully covered with a covering material, which is necessary both to retain moisture and to combat pests.

Weeding and thinning

Plants are weeded and thinned out at the earliest possible date, since the crop cannot be obtained with thickened crops. Thinning can be safely started already in the phase of appearance of cotyledon leaves. However, it is only necessary if the seeds you sowed are thicker than recommended. After the final thinning, the plants should be at a distance of 15-20 cm from each other.

Top dressing radish

When the first 3-4 true leaves appear, it is useful to add ash under the radish, scattering it directly over the leaves. If the soil on the site is not fertile enough, then you can sprinkle some complex fertilizers in the aisles at the same time. Top dressing according to this scheme is recommended to be repeated in the initial period of the formation of root crops, at the same time the radish is puffed up with humus, which can be considered additional dressing.

Harvesting radish

Winter radish is harvested before the onset of frost (we usually have this in mid-September). Frozen root vegetables are unacceptable, since the flesh of the frozen root crops exfoliates, becomes woody and becomes unsuitable for consumption. However, it should also be remembered that winter radishes harvested too early do not store well.

There are no specific features of harvesting radish in comparison with other root crops - they just carefully cut off the tops with a knife without touching the root crop itself, and lay out the root crops for several hours to dry so that the soil adhering to the root crop crumbles. It is convenient to use greenhouses for these purposes.

Storage of radish

The optimum storage temperature for radishes should be between 0 ° C and + 1 … 2 ° C. In storage, one should beware of high humidity, which leads to the appearance of white mold and, accordingly, to spoilage of root crops. Therefore, it does not hurt to carry out standard measures to reduce the level of humidity, for example, to arrange containers with quicklime, as well as from time to time to view stocks and remove diseased root crops. If these conditions are met, the vegetables will calmly last until May.

× Notice board Kittens for sale Puppies for sale Horses for sale

To make the radish beautiful and tasty

Alas, when we harvest and evaluate the results of our spring-summer labors, we are not always satisfied. Radish is no exception, and many gardeners refuse to grow it precisely because of a poor-quality crop. Indeed, getting beautiful and tasty root crops of this culture is not easy enough, you will need to follow certain rules of the "game".

1. Organic fertilizers must not be applied unpermuted (manure, bird droppings), as they reduce the keeping quality and quality of root crops. The radish in this case grows ugly and has a mediocre taste.
2. The seeds should be sown on time, otherwise the radish will turn into color and the roots will become rough and inedible.
3. It is imperative to control the degree of soil moisture. Insufficient watering sharply deteriorates the quality of root crops, while the unpleasant rare "aroma" increases. With a lack of soil moisture, root crops become tough, bitter and slightly sludge, and in cases of significant fluctuations in moisture, they can crack.
4. It is not worth saving when applying ash under the radish, because it significantly improves the taste of root crops.
5. It is imperative to keep the soil under the plants in a loose state, since the radish is very sensitive to the appearance of a soil crust.
6. Plants should not be damaged by the keel, which leads to the formation of woody and tasteless root crops.
7. To obtain more delicate root crops, it is advisable to spud the plants with humus in the initial period of root crop formation.
8. You cannot be late in harvesting - the roots of winter radish that have fallen under the frost become unsuitable for eating, while the radish harvested in time turns out to be dense and juicy, does not crack and is perfectly stored until spring.

Pest robbers …

It is because of pests that the rather unpretentious radish does not grow in many gardens. Either its crops disappear for unknown reasons (in fact, cruciferous fleas destroy them cleanly), or by the time of harvesting, the radish has such an appearance that one does not want to take it in hand (this is already the result of the labors of the cabbage fly).

Young shoots are attacked by hordes of insatiable cruciferous fleas, which are abundant at this time. Cruciferous fleas are especially active in hot dry weather, and they often manage to almost completely destroy radish seedlings. All kinds of folk remedies for flea beetles help little. Usually, to protect against them, it is recommended to sprinkle seedlings with ash, tobacco or even just road dust every day in the early morning - this gives an effect, but weak. Therefore, it is much safer to cover the radish immediately after sowing with a covering material, which should be removed only during weeding and thinning, and for a very short period. It is necessary to do weeding and thinning during the day, when fleas "legally" rest.

Older plants are exposed to the inexorable invasion of the cabbage fly, the larvae of which cause serious harm to root crops, gnawing numerous passages in them. As a result, the harvest was gone, because it is simply impossible to use wormy radish for food. It is extremely difficult to fight the cabbage fly. There are recommendations for protection from it to carry out regular dusting with tobacco dust or ash, only there is not much sense from this. Specialists of the Department of Entomology of the TSKHA recommend another method of protection - to put on "collars" of thick paper on young plants, which is no less laborious, although it makes sense, since the cabbage fly lays its eggs on the ground at the very stem of the plant. Therefore, to protect against cabbage flies (as well as against cruciferous fleas), a simpler and more reliable means of control is the use of a covering material.

What can be made from radish

As a rule, winter radish is eaten raw in the preparation of various salads, seasoned with vegetable oil and other seasonings.

Radish with oil

1 radish, 1 onion, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon of vinegar, herbs. First, the radish is cleaned and washed, then it is immersed in cold water for 20 minutes. Then they are taken out and dried with a napkin. Rub on a coarse grater. Season with oil, salt and vinegar. Sprinkle with herbs.

Colored salad

2 radishes, 1 carrot and 1 apple, 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil, salt, sugar. The radish is washed and rubbed on a coarse grater. Finely chop the carrot and apple with the peel. Everything is mixed and seasoned with oil, salt and sugar. After 10-15 minutes, they are served on the table. This salad with hot boiled potatoes is very good.

Tomatoes with radish

250 g tomatoes and 3 hard-boiled eggs are cut into slices and salted. Rub 1 large radish on a coarse grater, sprinkle with salt and let stand for ten minutes. Add sour cream to taste, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of chopped green onions and finally add salt. Pour tomatoes and eggs with this kind of sauce.