Radishes not swelling

[lumpyjumper]

Hello, can some kind soul try and help my radish problem,

I planted some radishes about 8 weeks ago in a raised bed, next to my red cabbage, beetroot and onions.

I've had about 4 that I've picked that have been the size of a marble and tasted fabulous, however the others when I've lifted them haven't swollen at all and just look like a tiny tap root with slightly pink tinge.

What should I have done for them to swell?

Thanks

[squashysu]

hi lumpy jumper

sorry to hear they havent swollen, i must say that i just planted and left to their own devices and mine have all swollen, all bar one? sorry i dont have the magic answer, perhaps they may in time swell up, have you replanted them? as i am sure you can just pop them back in? sorry i am only a beginner myself.

good luck with the radish

SS

[bridget mc laughlin]

You need to give them more water

[BarleySugar]

Since moving to this house I hadn't had any luck with radishes at all. I planted them in the back garden, loads of leaves, no root, despite treating them the same as in my previous garden. This year I planted some as 'markers' for my beetroot and parsnips, not expecting any roots, but they have done really well. However, they are in a patch of ground that is much more open and I would have said inhospitable. I did water when we had no rain for a couple of weeks, but recently that hasn't been a problem! Don't know that this will help you though, because I can't think of any thing else I did differently to before.

[kieren]

I have had problems in the past and changed variety - either by luck or judgement they wernt too bad the following year, not sure if it was me or the weather tho but perhaps worth a try.

[Sanjo]

Lumpyjumper I have had ONE!! As you say it was delicious but a bit lonely on the plate. I oohed and aaed as I was eating it and as my OH was in another room when I was doing it he wondered what the heck I was up to!! I too have foliage but just a thin strip of radish. I haven't done anything different from years ago when I sowed some although it is different ground, mabe this bit is too rich or something. I watered well in the dry spell a while ago and since then of course they have had plenty of rain. I'm just giving up on these ones and starting again. Be assured - it's not just you.

[FoxHillGardener]

I've never managed to grow a decent radish, despite what they say about them being really easy and ideal to encourage children. I just end up with a skinny root that goes a bit pink but never swells up. Mind you if I remember rightly, the ones I grew when I was a child did work. Perhaps the key, get a small child to plant them for you

[finney]

hi try thining them out if youve planted to close to eachother,seed about 2.5cm apart,
give them plenty of water im on my third crop now,i cant keep up with the demand,i have got to extend my veggy bed,good look let me now how you get on,Try FRENCH BREAKFAST,SCARLET GLOBE...MMMMMMM

FINNEY

[marigold007]

I have to agree with Finny. Thin them out. And don't feed them!

[dan1979]

Mine have gone from nowhere to huge since the heavy rain started.

[Mike and Louise]

Ours too are a bit thin despite having loads of rain for the past few days.
We have had a few big ones but nothing compared to what we had at this stage of growth last year.
The plants themselfs are huge now. They are getting a bit over crowed now due to thier size so we are going to pull a lot of the plants up and compost them. This may give the others a bit more room to grow properly.

If all else fails we will just pull the whole lot up, compost them, then sow new seed, but not as close together as before.

[Demeter]

You can eat the tops though, I think, even if the bottoms haven't swelled

[lumpyjumper]

Thanks all,

I've done some thinning and I won't feed them, I've planted a new row elsewhere to see if they do any better, whilst thinning I picked a really nice big one and it was delicious.

Thanks again,

[greenlung]

Hi - A few of my radishes have grown lots of leaf and produced 4 petal pink flowers, despite what I thought was copious amounts of water - while others in the same row have turned out scrummy : Best of both worlds ; )