Plant radish early and often for all-summer supply
Predicting the date of the last late frost in our Metro Moncton springs is an exercise in experience and frustration.
If you guess correctly, you can get a head start on your neighbour's garden; if you misjudge, chances are you'll be out there replanting while he or she laughs quietly behind the hedge.
There is one plant you can safely sow just about as early as you can work the ground, and that is the radish.
Since it doesn't seem to mind cool temperatures and grows quickly, you can often get it into the ground within the next month, and then make a few more successive plantings to you have a steady supply of this flavourful vegetable throughout the summer.
There's a lot of seed packets at your local nursery, so take your time and read the backs, checking to see which ones are recommended for early planting and which ones are best put in the ground later in June.
The Burpee White and Cherry Belle are usually fine to plant early, while such varieties as the French Breakfast, China Rose and Chinese White do better if you hold off for a few weeks.
If you want to have some radish in your salads late into the fall, grow Winter radish, which grows much larger than the summer varieties and remains crisp longer when it is stored.
Even if you have a very small garden bed, you can sow a few radish, since they mature quickly and are easy to grow.
They are also an excellent choice to plant if you are trying to get your children interested in gardening, since they can see the results faster than other vegetables.
If space is at a real premium, tuck your radish in between slower-growing vegetables such as broccoli and Brussels sprouts. You can even put them in window boxes or in patio containers.
Place the seeds about one-half inch down into the soil. When the seeds sprout, thin the spring varieties to about one-half an inch between plants. Winter radishes need at least two inches between plants.
Make sure the soil is rich and add fertilizer before planting. Ensure the soil does not get dried out.
The trick to successfully growing great radish is to be vigilant about when they are ready to harvest. If you leave them too long in the ground, they will become pithy.
Harvest as soon as roots reach edible size, usually about one inch in diameter. Radishes are good for only a short time, so be sure to pick at precisely the best time.
Winter radishes are different however. They can stay longer in the garden, especially if the weather is cool and typically fall-like.
They will just continue to grow and can still be of excellent quality. Pull them before the ground freezes, though. Store them in cold storage area for several months.
If your radishes are cracked and split when you pull them out of the ground, you are leaving them there too long. Pull them out earlier.
Also, make sure you water consistently, since if you suddenly add a lot of water after the plants have totally dried out for a long time, their roots will burst and split too.
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April 26 - Grand opening day for the new Green Village Home and Garden shop next to Taylor Ford in Moncton.
According to their Website, there will be a series of four short seminars that day. At 2 p.m., the topic is From The Patio to the Ground; at 2:40 p.m. the topic is Thrillers, Spillers and Fillers, at 3:20 p.m. the topic is Pruning and at 4 p.m. the topic is Eco-Friendly Gardening.
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April 26 - Westmorland Horticultural Society seminars at Lewisville Middle School. From 10 a.m. to 12 noon, Leonard Reviczky of Corn Hill Nurseries will speak on Outside Structures.
From 2 to 4 p.m., Carol Coleman of Tansy Lane Herb Farm in Albert Mines will speak on Getting Started with Herbs and Using Herbs You Grow.
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