Thanks -- I'll give your suggestions a work-out.



"allen73" wrote in message ...


'Ray[_3_ Wrote:
;965697']I'm about to go crazy trying to grow the easiest of all
vegetables to
grow -- radishes.

No matter what location I use, no matter what soil, no matter what depth
I
plant them, I always get the same result: A two-inch-long spindly stem,
but
never a root.

I follow all the instructions on the packet very carefully, but the
result
is ALWAYS the same.

Any suggestions welcome.

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.




--
allen73