"K" wrote in message
...
Lofty writes
Hi All,
I'm new here and to gardening, but this year I have tried growing a few
vegs
on a small piece of land, which gets nice sunshine, and whilst my onions
and
potatoes havn't done to bad, things like radish, beetroot etc have made
lots
of top growth but there is nothing underneath them.

Don't give up on the radish and beetroot until they either die down or
produce a flower shoot. The way the radish grows, for example, is to
produce lots of leaves the first year to manufacture food for the plant.
Over winter the leaves die down, so all that food is stored in a swollen
stem base (the radish), so that next year the plant can push up a flower
stem and produce seeds, which is what it was aiming at all along.

Radish need a continuous water supply, so they're easier to grow in the
early part of the season, before the summer gets too dry. The slower they
grow, the hotter and more woody they become. Home grown radishes are
hotter than supermarket ones, but also far tastier.

Beetroot aren't such a problem if they take a long time. But if all else
fails, you can eat the leaves like spinach, or add the very young leaves
in the centre to salads.

--
Kay

Hi,
I havn't put any manure on, but I have given a couple of liquid feeds with
Wilko's all purpose feed (looks like miracle grow).
the soil is a bit on the sandy type and hasn't grown veg on it for a few
years, so I was a bit dissapointed but will try again, I haven't tried the
beetroot
leaves in the ways suggested before, will give it a go.

Thanks
Lofty