Growing Cherry Bell Radishes

Posted by admin on April 16, 2009

Growing Cherry Bell Radishes is almost as fun as you can have vegetable gardening. This is a pretty standard radish, similar to Sparkler. This radish is disease resistant, fast growing, and prolific. I like that any bugs that get on leaves generally do not bother the radish itself. Many people choose not to eat radishes from the store since they are a root vegetable, so often higher in pesticides. But, at home these can easily be grown organically with an organic fertilizer in the ground or in a pot. The roots do not generally go deeper than 4 - 5 inches, so if using a pot, it does not need to be too deep. In fact, if using a large pot, some plastic bottles or old containers from your recycling bin can be used in the bottom of the pot before adding soil to help save on the amount of potting soil you will need.

When potting, I would recommend using potting soil for sure, since it is lighter and better drained than many other kinds of topsoil. Here is a sample of a good potting soil. When planting, I place seeds about 2 inches apart. For sure I recommend not putting more than one seed together, since as the radishes grow, they can compete and deliver a smaller radish vegetable. The space allotted for each plant is important. It is generally not a good idea to plan to thin plants later since radishes grow fast. Also, since the germination rate of radishes is generally high, and the germination speed fast, they deliver radishes fairly fast from seed to production.

Cherry Bell Radishes generally germinate within less than a week. You can usually harvest them within less than a month. If you want to make them larger by using more organic fertilizer and waterings, they may take a bit longer to mature. The longer one waits to harvest them, the slightly tougher they can get. There is a certain point where they are full size, and if not harvested, they may split and go to seed.

Planting Cherry Bell Radishes, I lay the seeds on the soil and sprinkle a centimeter to half inch of soil on top. If sprinkling a centimeter, then as the radishes mature, the red color of the radish can be seen above ground partially. If planted an inch in depth, the red on the radish cannot usually be seen from above ground. When harvesting radishes, I would recommend pulling off any soil and putting that back in the hole. After that I would recommend cutting off the tiny root at the bottom as well as leaves at the top and composting them.

To wash radishes before eating, they can be put in a strainer, or a handful rubbed/rolled together between the hands under water. Radishes can be used in salads, dishes, and eaten on their own. The photos below show radishes growing in a pot, and one radish pulled out of the soil. Purchase 600 Radish Cherry Bell Seeds from Amazon.com.