I grow radishes every spring and every fall. I just love them! They always do pretty good for us, but this spring they have surely outdone themselves.
I’ve never grown radishes as large as the ones I have this year. Typically when you buy radish seed a lot comes in one pack and I don’t plant all the sees at once. In other words, the seed I used this spring was some of the same I used last year—only with much better results.
While I love radishes, The Deer Hunter doesn’t care for them at all. Which is sort of unusual because he will eat pretty much anything. The girls and I teasingly call him the garbage disposal for his eating habits. He often tells us if we worked as hard as he does we’d have to eat like a 14 year old boy too 🙂
I’ve heard lots of folks say they enjoy radishes roasted, but I’ve never roasted any to see if I like them. I enjoy slicing them and sprinkling with salt so much that I can’t imagine eating them any other way.
Granny and Pap both loved radishes so I guess that’s where I get my great love for them. Miss Cindy enjoys them to so between her, Granny, and me we eat all I grow.
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Tipper, those are indeed beautiful radishes. The biggest one looks like a turnip growing. My experience with growing radishes is that most of the time the large ones are “pethy” or sorta empty inside. As a result, we would often try to pull them up early. Have you experienced this kind of growth pattern? If so, how do you get around it?
Ray-I’ve had the same experience with radish all the years I’ve grown them but not this spring. Maybe it was the act perfect combination of weather and nutrients 🙂
Your radishes are beautiful! Roasted radishes are good too.
I love radishes the French way: sliced very thin, with salt and pepper, on crusty bread buttered very thickly. Makes my mouth water thinking of it!
When I was a child, my mom would make radish sandwiches like this, only on regular bread and with a leaf of new lettuce in it. Yum.
I’ve always enjoyed radishes. Sliced, diced and even pickled. We would grow them to help break up the clay soil.
My good friend Ted grows radishes each spring just for me. He doesn’t like them, nor does his wife. He pulls them up, tops. dirt & all, and gives them to me just that a way. Says he wants me to know they didn’t come from the supermarket.
I’m not a radish fan but I will say they are the biggest radishes I have ever seen grown! If you didn’t know it, you would think they were turnips! Good job, Tipper!!
Tipper, I’m so happy for you regarding your radishes! I enjoy the heck out of radishes. I have also boiled them (very easy to over cook). They are actually a decent substitute for potatoes if you don’t over cook. Not kidding. But raw radishes are excellent eating too. Thank you for sharing.
I love radishes! I used to eat them whole but since I’ve gotten old and my teeth are not so good, I can’t eat them like that anymore. Now I slice them paper thin and put them in a garden salad. I tried a couple of times to see how many slices I could make from a normal sized radish. 23!
I have found that even the hot or woody ones are edible if they are sliced thin enough. They are more like a spice in your salad.
No! I don’t use a mandolin slicer. Them things are dangerous! I use a good sharp paring knife. It’s a Martha Stewart brand I bought from K-Mart in Morganton about 30 years ago. I had to modify it quite a bit to get it to fit my needs. I keep it super sharp.
I have never cared for them. I love hot peppers, etc but radishes are (to me) in the category of hot onions. Something about the burn from them is yucky to me.
My S-I-L would slice them into her lettuce & onions. Looked pretty but not for me!
Not a radish fan here, but, LORD HAVE MERCY !!!! Those are big turnips and you should be proud. Also, that is state fair worthy in my radish size opinion!!! A prize winner and really something to show everybody who’s a gardener!!! You and God outdid yourselves!
My hubby and I love radishes – the hotter and spicier the better. Fresh, with salt or sliced with a little butter or cream cheese on sandwich bread (like English Tea sandwiches). We haven’t tried them roasted but it sounds tasty. We have tried the watermelon radishes and they are quite good and very pretty in salads. And the French Press Pot coffee is a great way to make coffee while camping. Heat the water, pour it over the coffee, let it sit for a few minutes and press the grounds down.
My radishes just sprouted in the container troughs I plant them in but never seem to grow well. I use bagged garden soil that works for other vegatables but the radishes not so much. I tried a different brand of seed this year and hopefully they will yield some good ones. I love the spicy ones that makes your eyes water.
Glad for you all that the radishes have outdone themselves. That’s gardening; “for thou knowest not what shall be”. We get surprised in one way or another.
Anybody have a clue to this radish mystery? Why is it that some seeds just make a tough, straight “taproot” and want to immediately bloom and go to seed while the others make a real radish root? Unless you want to save seed, those kind just need to be pulled up as soon as identified.
I have a few Cherry Belle red radish in the garden but I haven’t even looked at them closely. I grow them, supposedly, to give away then often fail to even do that. I like radishes fine myself but I am the only one. Have lost all the good radish weather here now. They do not like 80’s and upwards. I wonder how much shade they can take. They would probably stay tender longer in shade if they could live there.
Ron- I’m not sure why some do that but I experience the same thing.
I tried seed saving, radishes I grew & ended up w/the taproot-woody kind. Wondering if it has something to do with hybridization of the seeds & maybe some that shouldn’t end up in the package, do. I stopped saving radish seed because it seemed thats how they all would turn out & I was not growing heirlooms. I just think they’re a 2nd year plant or something. I had the same thing saving some carrot seed & they are biennials.
We like radishes raw and salted, in salads and roasted. The last two years have not had much luck with growing them – I mean who can’t grow radishes – go figure!
Radishes are awesome cooked, stir fried and roasted but they’re kinda like squash. If you aren’t careful, they’ll overcook fairly quickly!
But the most amazing thing about radishes I’ve ever encountered was from the Germans. I live in the Atlanta region and we once had an annual German Festival at Lakewood Fairgrounds sponsored by a large German brewery; Spaten, I think. On each table was a bowl with some spiral sliced something and every now and again folks would stop, break off a slice of the whatever and nibble it. Curiosity soon got the better of me and some fellow walked by in his lederhosen so I asked him what it was and why he was eating he. He told me it was white radishes spiral sliced and marinated in white vinegar. He claims it was how the Germans drink and oom-pah-pah dance so heartily! According to him, you nibble the marinated radishes and you won’t become inebriated. Uh, huh. Right! So we tried it and it worked just like he described! We had a great time! But what he DIDN’T tell us is when you STOP eating it, if you’ve over-imbibed, it all catches back up with you at light speed! What an amusing lot we must have been to watch as we made our way back to my truck looking like some lost tribe just learning to walk.
I meant to grow some this year and when it came time to plant I couldn’t find my seed pack. I looked and looked for them where I usually store them but they were hiding. Finally as I was going through the summer seeds much later I found them mixed in!
Never had them anyway but fresh…wash & salted. But will try them roasted & boiled!
When in TN, a friend wanted them in a sandwich form like egg salad. Can’t say I was impressed. Bur even at 70+ am willing to try most things at least once.
My hubby and I both like radishes, so I grow them every year. We both like them sliced with salt or in salads. I saw where people on the Keto diet boiled them like potatoes, so I tried that too. I was surprised how good they were and they did taste like boiled potatoes. My hubby only likes the small radishes and says the big ones taste to much like wood. I boiled the ones that got big and when he tried them boiled with some salt and butter, he actually liked them. I try not to let my radishes get big but sometimes I miss a few. Those are the ones I boil. I will have to try them roasted next, but for now I’m enjoying them fresh and raw.
We enjoy radishes as well. For some reason I didn’t plant any this spring, but come fall I will plant some so that we have them to eat. I did plant some last fall just to see if what remained would last through the winter, but unfortunately they didn’t survive the winter here in Indiana. I know people who like them roasted as well, but we eat them raw here. Maybe roasting them is something we will try down the road. Now its time for me to drink my morning coffee that my wonderful husband just made and warm up a little. The temps here this morning are in the 50’s, so it’s a little chilly in our house and the coffee is a great warm up. Speaking of coffee we watched Corrie’s video last night that she made and it showed your husband making french press coffee. Is he happy with that type of coffee maker?
Denise-he was really pleased with the french press. He wanted to try it because he thought it would be easier to use when he was out in the woods 🙂 For daily coffee he uses a percolator 🙂
While I love radishes as well, my Husband does not like the spicy nor those that are a little ‘hotter’. I have been looking for ones that are a little milder, but I will keep planting the ‘regular’ ones to enjoy. As always, thanks.
Don’t peel them. Just cut off the root and top, sprinkle on a little salt, and ENJOY!
Has anyone tried watermelon radishes? The ones I have had are large, mild and super crispy.
Ava-I haven’t but I will look for them and give them a try 🙂
We have had a great radish spring this year also!! So huge with sweet and a pinch of heat. Yummmmy
I’ve always loved radishes, don’t know what happened to my son that he doesn’t like them. I eat a lot of salad, so I always have radishes in my refrigerator to go in the salad…that’s year-round that I have radishes in my fridge!