Daikon Radish
Raphanus Sativus

days to maturity: 60 days
plant spacing: 4-8 per square foot
sunlight requirements: 10-14 hours
look out for: thinning is critical, and full sun
harvest notes: harvest at any age and size up to maturity date
seasons: fall, winter, spring
annual

We love eating daikons fresh, fermenting them, and even roasting them with other root veggies. Daikon has many traditional culinary uses in Japan, like braised daikon, but you can also use it in so many basic recipes like stir fries, added to stews instead of potatoes, mashed, etc. While the daikon in this photo are traditional white ones, you may want to consider growing a fun color like purple, pink or green too.

Radishes are super easy to grow in a raised bed and we are always encouraging beginners to try them out. The main key to planting radishes in your garden is to start them from seed, properly thin them once germinated, and give them enough sun to keep them growing fast until harvest. Radishes can be eaten at any part of its life, from a 10 day old sprout (thats micro greens!) to a mature radish date (its not recommended to leave them in the ground past their maturity day because they will get woody). While thinning them is critical you can take advantage of the space by leaving too many radishes in, then harvesting half of them young, making room for the remaining plants to mature properly. Radish flavor is greatly effected by temperature and the amount of time it took to grow them. Radishes grown in the hottest time of the year or grown too slowly end up very spicy, whereas radishes grown in cooler weather and at the appropriate speed of growth end up the most palatable. We always recommend that home gardeners make note of the date that they planted radish seeds and their “days to maturity” and keep good track of their progress. If they don’t look like radishes by the maturity date don’t keep waiting, harvest what you’ve grown, eat it (remember, all parts of the radish plant are edible at all growth stages) figure out what you did wrong (improper thinning, not enough sunlight, etc.) and try again.

Direct seed radishes into the garden and thin to the spacing recommended for whatever variety you are growing.