When preparing the planting bed, loosen the soil 6 to 10 inches deep, and mix in good compost or well-rotted manure. Sow seeds a half inch deep and 1 inch apart, in rows spaced 12 inches apart. After the seedlings appear, thin salad radishes to 3 inches apart; thin oriental radishes to 8 to 10 inches apart. Seeds typically sprout in three to seven days when sown in 60-degree soil.

Use fine soil. This is true of most root vegetables. They need to breathe in order to grow. Radish seeds and sprouts are tiny and do not grow well in soil that has not been broken up properly. While any type of soil works for growing radishes, keep it loose and fine. Doing so will make picking easier as well.

Radishes do not like hot weather. They do need about six hours of sunlight a day. Filtered sunlight is best. You can use netting to accomplish this. Simply stretch it over or across the area where radishes are planted. Radishes can be planted in shady areas of the garden, where other vegetables might fail.

Don’t be discouraged if a spring crop doesn’t meet your expectations. Your best shot at perfect radishes comes in fall, when the soil is getting cooler rather than warmer. Radishes make a good fall cover crop. Plant them after beans, peas or another nitrogen-fixing legume, and they will utilize nitrogen left behind in the soil. Later, when the plants are killed by cold winter weather, nitrogen and other nutrients will be returned to the soil.