Radishes

July 15, 2009

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Your Questions Answered: Watermelon Radish

Question: I am in South Mississippi and my Mother wants to know where you get the pink watermelon radish seed and how she can get some? – Betty

Hi Betty,

Watermelon radish are a fairly unknown winter radish that are beginning to gain popularity. The seeds themselves aren’t particularly easy to find; however, the radishes have begun to show up in farmers’ markets. Look for them in the fall.

While chances are slim that you’ll be able to buy seeds at your local garden shop, they are readily available online. Search for them by one of their many names, including: Red Meat radish, Beauty Heart, Chinese Red Meat, Asian Red Meat, Watermelon radish, Rose Heart, Misato radish, Xin Li Mei (Ã¥Â¿Æ’Ã©â€¡Å’Ã§Â¾Å½), Shinrimei, or Roseheart.

I found my pack of seeds back in the spring at a local seed sale. The company I purchased them from, Greta’s Organic Gardens is Canadian and located in the Ottawa area. I’m pretty sure they ship to the U.S.

A few other online sellers include:

Back in the spring, I mentioned in an interview that I would be growing these radishes for the first time this year. What the interview doesn’t include is that ‘Watermelon’ is a large, winter radish that does not fair well in the spring. The best time to start them is in the late summer/early fall as the days grow cooler. There’s still lots of time to order seeds and get on growing a crop this year!

Oh, and if you’re wondering how to eat them, the flesh inside is deceptively sweet and tender. We eat them raw, just like a regular radish, but chop the harder skin off first. We also grate or slice it thinly on top of salads, and they also taste yummy pickled.

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March 3, 2009

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Seedy Saturday Haul 2009

Well, another Seedy Saturday has come and gone. And really, I could just cut and paste last year’s post, or the one before that, or the one before that, because frankly, it’s pretty much the same for me every year. I start out with good intentions. But it’s busy from the moment I arrive and there is no time for me to go about shopping at the other tables. I never have a list except the one that is in my head. The crowds are too thick. I give up.

This year’s event was in a new (and gorgeous) location and the crowds were bigger than ever! Growing your own food is taking off like gangbusters!

Unfortunately, I came back with some kind of virus and have been holed up since Saturday dying a slow death. Boo.

Fortunately, I managed to scavenge a few packs of this and that at the event although most were from Sorellina (the Queen of Tomatoes), and they are primarily determinate (bush) tomatoes. I am always looking to try as many determinates as I can in pots every season. I scored so many this year, it will be a struggle to find space for them all, but I will have fun trying. Some of the varieties sound really exciting!

Tomato ‘Yellow Pygmy’ – A very small, yellow, determinate.
Tomato ‘Pink Ping Pong’ – I got this from Sorellina because I thought it was on my list but it was actually just something I recently saw and not on my list.
Tomato ‘Koralik’ – Red cherry, determinate.
Tomato ‘Czech’s Bush’ – I’ve grown this one for a couple of years now. It’s one of my favourites in containers and very reliable. Short and stocky plants with mid-sized, red fruit.
Tomato ‘Mountain Princess Dwarf’ – Pink salad tomatoes. I figure the name could work to get princess-crazed girls into gardening.
Tomato ‘Dwarf Medium Ruffled Pink Oblate’ – Ruffled tomatoes on a dwarf plant — I’m in!
Cucumber ‘Crystal Apple’ – This was a freebee from the woman who own the seed company, Cubit’s Organics. I have not grown this variety since it so closely resembles my beloved, ‘Lemon’. Now that I have these seeds I will give it a try.
Carrot ‘Purple Haze’ – This was a trade. I’ve been growing this variety on and off for years and figured I can never have too many seeds.
Radish ‘Red Meat/Watermelon’ – I tried these for the first time last year and they are fantastic! Dark on the outside, hot pink on the inside, and surprisingly tender and delicious.
Radish ‘China Rose’ – A winter radish with an elongated shape and a bright rosy exterior.
Spinach ‘Bloomsdale’ – I don’t often grow spinach but figured I might this year. ‘Bloomsdale’ is a good container option.
Lettuce ‘Sierra’ – One of only two items that was actually on the original list. ‘Sierra’ is a beautiful, heat tolerant, Batavia (looseleaf meets crisphead) variety with green leaves and burgundy tips.
Lettuce ‘Sunset’ – And this is the other original list item. It’s a slow-bolting looseleaf variety with gorgeous, deep red foliage.

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February 10, 2009

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Getting My Seeds Lined Up in a Row

It feels like I’m going to be able to be more forthcoming with the garden projects I’ve got going on this year so I thought I would take advantage of the freedom by posting all the seeds I buy or acquire by trade, gifts, etc.

When I bought bean seeds the other day I also purchased some assorted vegetable seed but decided against posting about them there to keep the post on topic. In the meantime a pack of Gourmet Mesclun Asian Baby Leaf (Phew that was a mouthful) seeds arrived in a press packet from Renee’s Garden. Packets of lettuce and greens never go to waste around here! I’ve had “Get some greens started on the windowsill” on my to-do list for over a week now. It’s way too early to get them going outdoors around here just yet, but there should be enough sunlight to pull off a crop of micro-greens.

When I think about it, it’s kind of amazing that I’ve managed to acquire this many seeds so early without having given barely a thought to what I will be doing in the garden this year. Perhaps this garden season will take inspiration from my trip to Cuba and just be about going with the flow.

What I Got:

‘Matt’s Wild Cherry’ Tomato – This is a classic, super prolific and easy to grow wild variety. I’m fairly certain I’ve been growing these in my community garden plot where I inherited a crop of tomatoes that self-seed every year. This is most likely the plant I have permanently tattooed on my arm so I figured it was time to try and solve the mystery once and for all. I could have easily acquired these in trade if I’d had the patience to wait half a second, but…. I don’t. So I didn’t.
‘Sparkler’ Radish – I’m always on the lookout for a good radish contender for container growing and figured this round ‘French Breakfast’ alike might just fit the bill. And since I’m a fan of that elegant two-tone variety it was hard to pass up a rounded version.
‘Golden Detroit’ Beet – I generally don’t grow beets since we can get them cheaply enough at the farmer’s market but how could I pass up a variety with such a glam rock vibe about it? Come to think about it, these last two plants could fit into a disco theme seed collection. Anyways, this variety is golden with golden veining. It kind of reminds me of ‘Golden’ Swiss Chard, another beauty.

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March 17, 2008

13 Comments

Seedy Saturday Haul 2008

Photo by Gayla Trail

Another Seedy Saturday Toronto has come and gone and like last year I managed, with great effort, to make it around to a few booths and pick up some seeds. The event was more packed than ever this year making it nearly impossible to leave my brother/assistant alone at the table for any length of time or push through the crowds lingering around some of the larger seed sellers. The sellers I did manage to get to were often sold out of items on my wanted list. And forget the Seeds of Diversity trading table. I had high hopes but only managed to snag a pack of red orach seeds. Next year I plan to employ the strategy of browsing during setup, BEFORE the crowds arrive. Next year.

Here’s what I managed to bring home with me:

Red Orach – A trade pack harvested from Jackman Public School’s Learning Garden.
‘Early Yellow Crookneck’ Squash – A trade with a You Grow Girl forums member. I thought I needed squash but then got home and realized I have several varieties in my stash. This is why I should have brought a list.
‘Dragon’ Carrot – Another trade that I already have. ‘Dragon’ is a beautiful purple carrot. If I had to choose I suppose I favour it over ‘Purple Haze’ although ‘Dragon’ would crumble in a Best Name competition.
Love Lies Bleeding – I’ve been trying to grow more amaranth over the last few years and ‘Love Lies Bleeding’ is a classic that never gets old.
‘Blue Spice’ Basil – Another trade. I don’t think I have grown this variety which is kind of amazing since I’d swear I have covered just about everything in the unusual basil category at least once.
‘Purple Calabash’ Tomato – I fell in love with its ugly beauty last year. I am planning to grow less tomatoes this year and have not finalized my list as-of-yet. Who gets cut will be the hardest decision I have to make this year.
Painted Lady Sweet Pea – I just love the fragrant sweetness of sweet pea flowers but tend to steer clear of them due to their attractiveness to aphids. I decided to try my luck and grow a few varieties this year. I can always pull them out if things get nasty. This variety really does look like the runner beans of the same name. I know it seems redundant to grow them when I can just grow the beans later in the season but I can’t cut those flowers and I am really craving cut sweet peas for my desk.
Persian Broad-Leaf Cress – I have grown a number of pepper cresses but like that this variety is described as milder than other cresses.
Tendergreen Mustard Green – I’m on a personal mission to try growing just about every salad green under the sun.
‘Queen Anne’s Pocket Melon’ aka ‘Plum Granny’ – I’m planning to grow some melon this year but admittedly this one was an impulse buy and not on the list. ‘Plum Grannies’ are tiny melons known for their intoxicating fruity smell. I can not resist a good back story and the story for these citrus-sized melons is that Victorian women carried them in their pockets to fight street stench. The thought of two of these in a breast pocket has me thinking about another derivative of the colloquial use of ‘melons.”
Swiss Chard ‘Ruby Red’ & ‘Golden Sunrise’ – I’ve grown the ‘Rainbow’ mix and other coloured varieties but these two are my favourites for their saturated colours that look so beautiful in containers of contrasting colour or as a burst of brightness tucked beside boring veggie varieties.
‘Selway’ Lettuce - Brightly coloured greens are another edible trick I employ to brighten dull corners and containers. Consequently I am always on the look out for a good red variety. We’ll see how these fair against ‘Lolla Rosa’ aka ‘Lollo Rosa’ which still reigns as my favourite red.
‘Cimmaron’ Romaine Lettuce – An unusual romaine with a deep, reddish purple hue.
‘Yugoslavian Red’ Butterhead Lettuce – A really beautiful butterhead variety with shades of green tinged by deep red.
‘Black Spanish’ Radish – I’m very curious about the flavour and how to eat this root vegetable.
‘Black Jet’ Soybean – I have to admit I bought these for the dark bean colour. I’ve had a lot of success with soybeans in containers on the roof but that dang groundhog just LOVES to eat the plants as they emerge from the soil at the community plot.

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May 21, 2007

10 Comments

Mission Accomplished – Radishes!

Radishes

I’ve long held the belief that there are no green thumbs or black thumbs and that gardening is a process of learning and discovery with no peak or end goal. You can garden like a maniac your entire life and never know everything there is to be known. In fact I would say that the more I learn the less I realize I know. That sounds intimidating but it’s one aspect of this hobby/lifestyle that is most rewarding and optimistic. And knowing that you can’t possibly know everything there is to know should help to take some of the pressure off.

That said, I can say with absolute certainty that all gardeners have their weaknesses — there is always that one plant, that dirty little secret whose riddle just can’t be cracked. Mine used to be radishes. I know exactly how to grow them and if you had asked me I would have been able to explain exactly what they need without flinching. But when it came down to it I grew a pretty awful radish. I wrote about my radish problem in the You Grow Girl book because I wanted people to know that they should not give up on those embarassing failures and that it is sometimes one thing to understand what a plant needs on an intellectual level and another thing to apply that knowledge to a real plant.

And then low and behold, just last year I managed to grow my first crop of good container-grown radishes! And today, for a second year running, I have harvested my first tasty, crisp, not-at-all-woody container-grown radishes of the season. Woot! I’ve come to think that my radish mistake probably came down to my own insanely stubborn insistance on growing a variety that just couldn’t take the extra heat and drought on the deck. Again this was one of those instances where I KNEW what I should have been growing and had even appropriately advised many aspiring radish growers while stubbornly soldiering on in the wrong direction in my own garden.