Saturday, September 29, 2012

Radish Plants Get Surprise Neighbors

      When I was a kid, I didn't like radishes. I thought they were too spicy or hot. My grandpa liked them too, so I thought it was a grownup thing--that grownups liked radishes and other vegetables that kids never eat, like beets. But after trying a radish for the first time in a long time, and checking local planting calendars, I thought I'd try growing my own. I picked up a packet of cherry belle radish seeds, which are a cute, small kind of radish and decided to plant them in the same raised bed as where I planted my snap peas. However, I forgot the radishes would end up competing with some bulb flowers that I forgot can come up in late summer.

 
     The funny thing about planting bulb flowers is there's a chance that you forget where you put them. That was the case with my grape hyacinth after I started watering the radish seeds. Within a week or so, at the the beginning of September, they started coming up. I hadn't watered that area all summer because I thought those flowers were spring bloomers, not fall bloomers, so I figured I could just leave them alone. But they came up anyway, after I started watering that area, and since then they've become garden roommates more or less.
    A couple side notes--first, I've confirmed with a local master gardener that the holes in the leaves aren't worth worrying over this late in the season. Second, because I planted the seeds so late in the season, I've been told that it will take a lot longer for them to be ready to eat than what is specified on the packet. I can't wait!

2 comments:

  1. your radishes look good! i pick ours when they pop out of the ground...got 10 today!

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  2. That's great! I'm still waiting for mine to finish. I think the bugs have gotten to the leaves unfortunately. I might have to try another round later. Any suggestions?

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