Using Radishes

On the 22nd of April I sowed 2 rows of radishes in this pot (4 1/2 weeks ago). The row in the front of this photo are scarlet globes from a packet. The back row are from seeds harvested in the Organic Gardening class. Some of the scarlet globes are ready for harvest. Or I think they are. Does the fact that they’ve climbed out of the soil on their way to making a run for it mean they are ripe?

They’re a bit small, but I’m not sure they’ll get a lot bigger and I’m not a patient person so last night Frank and I each got to harvest 2 for a pre-dinner snack.

Frank (for some strange reason) tossed his leaves into the compost before bringing his radishes inside. I kept mine and suggested we feed them to our chickens. Frank didn’t think they’d like them. Which got me thinking… I’ve heard they’re good to eat. So, 2 minutes of internet searching (radish leaf pesto, radish leaf omelette, radish leaf salad…) and I decided to give them a try – raw. They actually taste really good. The more mature leaves are a bit fuzzy and I think the chooks would hate that. So I said we should put them in a salad.

After dinner (where no salad was served), the leaves were gone and I asked Frank what happened to them. He said he put them in our Laksa and we’d eaten them. Which meant I didn’t get to knowingly appreciate the bounty from my garden but, since the Laksa was delicious, I guess we’ll be using our radish greens from now on.

Since the radishes are doing so well in pots, I sowed another long pot with more scarlet globes and sparkler radish seeds. Right now all 3 long pots have radishes in them at different stages. Frank’s asked me to sow more spinach (there are a few seeds in that tiny round pot on the top shelf) and I guess I’ll have to use those bin lids at the back of the seedling stand as my seedling pots are busy!