"redclay" wrote in message ...
Bob Smith wrote in message
...
When I was a kid, radishes used to be hot.

I heard that supermarkets sold horrible mild ones because people don't
like
them hot, so I planted my own.

Mine aren't hot! Is there a specific variety that are hot? I planted
'Saxa' because it said on the packet 'peppery taste'.
Thanks
Bob
Check the pH of your soil, acid soils( 6.0 )grow hotter stuff. Secondly do
not fertilize while they are growing just use a small amount when preparing
the bed. Mine, in the former colony of VA, have finally cooled down but it
took me years to get the dirt right. I plant the old timey kind that are red
without any white around the top.

Agreed: though I like chillies, I prefer my radishes cool, and have
found that if you grow them fast -- more a matter of water than of
nutrition, as Red implies -- they're cooler than if you grow them
slow. I'm sure this is as true in western Britain as it is in the
grand old Commonwealth of Virginia. The catch would be that if you let
them grow for too long, they'll get tough and stringy. Maybe sun's a
factor, too: the more light, the hotter the radish, just like
chillies.

I suspect, too, that they get hotter if allowed to protrude above soil
level: a longer type would do this more happily than a round one.
'Ware slugs!

As somebody said downthread, it's worth trying some of the oriental
varieties -- some of which will also give a supply in the winter, and
let you make brain-blasting Korean-style pickles (recipes in Madhur
Jaffrey's terrific _Eastern Vegetarian Cooking_ or, no doubt, on the
Internet).

Mike.

"Bob Smith" wrote in message
...
When I was a kid, radishes used to be hot.

I heard that supermarkets sold horrible mild ones because people don't
like
them hot, so I planted my own.


I am currently growing some radishes - I haven't tried one yest so I don't
know if they're hot or not.

However, I recently bought some radishes from Tesco and found them to be
delicious, hot and peppery.

-=# Amos E Wolfe #=-

"redclay" wrote in message ...
Bob Smith wrote in message
...
When I was a kid, radishes used to be hot.

I heard that supermarkets sold horrible mild ones because people don't
like
them hot, so I planted my own.

Mine aren't hot! Is there a specific variety that are hot? I planted
'Saxa' because it said on the packet 'peppery taste'.
Thanks
Bob
Check the pH of your soil, acid soils( 6.0 )grow hotter stuff. Secondly do
not fertilize while they are growing just use a small amount when preparing
the bed. Mine, in the former colony of VA, have finally cooled down but it
took me years to get the dirt right. I plant the old timey kind that are red
without any white around the top.

Agreed: though I like chillies, I prefer my radishes cool, and have
found that if you grow them fast -- more a matter of water than of
nutrition, as Red implies -- they're cooler than if you grow them
slow. I'm sure this is as true in western Britain as it is in the
grand old Commonwealth of Virginia. The catch would be that if you let
them grow for too long, they'll get tough and stringy. Maybe sun's a
factor, too: the more light, the hotter the radish, just like
chillies.

I suspect, too, that they get hotter if allowed to protrude above soil
level: a longer type would do this more happily than a round one.
'Ware slugs!

As somebody said downthread, it's worth trying some of the oriental
varieties -- some of which will also give a supply in the winter, and
let you make brain-blasting Korean-style pickles (recipes in Madhur
Jaffrey's terrific _Eastern Vegetarian Cooking_ or, no doubt, on the
Internet).

Mike.

"Bob Smith" wrote in message
...
When I was a kid, radishes used to be hot.

I heard that supermarkets sold horrible mild ones because people don't
like
them hot, so I planted my own.


I am currently growing some radishes - I haven't tried one yest so I don't
know if they're hot or not.

However, I recently bought some radishes from Tesco and found them to be
delicious, hot and peppery.

-=# Amos E Wolfe #=-

"redclay" wrote in message ...
Bob Smith wrote in message
...
When I was a kid, radishes used to be hot.

I heard that supermarkets sold horrible mild ones because people don't
like
them hot, so I planted my own.

Mine aren't hot! Is there a specific variety that are hot? I planted
'Saxa' because it said on the packet 'peppery taste'.
Thanks
Bob
Check the pH of your soil, acid soils( 6.0 )grow hotter stuff. Secondly do
not fertilize while they are growing just use a small amount when preparing
the bed. Mine, in the former colony of VA, have finally cooled down but it
took me years to get the dirt right. I plant the old timey kind that are red
without any white around the top.

Agreed: though I like chillies, I prefer my radishes cool, and have
found that if you grow them fast -- more a matter of water than of
nutrition, as Red implies -- they're cooler than if you grow them
slow. I'm sure this is as true in western Britain as it is in the
grand old Commonwealth of Virginia. The catch would be that if you let
them grow for too long, they'll get tough and stringy. Maybe sun's a
factor, too: the more light, the hotter the radish, just like
chillies.

I suspect, too, that they get hotter if allowed to protrude above soil
level: a longer type would do this more happily than a round one.
'Ware slugs!

As somebody said downthread, it's worth trying some of the oriental
varieties -- some of which will also give a supply in the winter, and
let you make brain-blasting Korean-style pickles (recipes in Madhur
Jaffrey's terrific _Eastern Vegetarian Cooking_ or, no doubt, on the
Internet).

Mike.

"Bob Smith" wrote in message
...
When I was a kid, radishes used to be hot.

I heard that supermarkets sold horrible mild ones because people don't
like
them hot, so I planted my own.


I am currently growing some radishes - I haven't tried one yest so I don't
know if they're hot or not.

However, I recently bought some radishes from Tesco and found them to be
delicious, hot and peppery.

-=# Amos E Wolfe #=-

"redclay" wrote in message ...
Bob Smith wrote in message
...
When I was a kid, radishes used to be hot.

I heard that supermarkets sold horrible mild ones because people don't
like
them hot, so I planted my own.

Mine aren't hot! Is there a specific variety that are hot? I planted
'Saxa' because it said on the packet 'peppery taste'.
Thanks
Bob
Check the pH of your soil, acid soils( 6.0 )grow hotter stuff. Secondly do
not fertilize while they are growing just use a small amount when preparing
the bed. Mine, in the former colony of VA, have finally cooled down but it
took me years to get the dirt right. I plant the old timey kind that are red
without any white around the top.

Agreed: though I like chillies, I prefer my radishes cool, and have
found that if you grow them fast -- more a matter of water than of
nutrition, as Red implies -- they're cooler than if you grow them
slow. I'm sure this is as true in western Britain as it is in the
grand old Commonwealth of Virginia. The catch would be that if you let
them grow for too long, they'll get tough and stringy. Maybe sun's a
factor, too: the more light, the hotter the radish, just like
chillies.

I suspect, too, that they get hotter if allowed to protrude above soil
level: a longer type would do this more happily than a round one.
'Ware slugs!

As somebody said downthread, it's worth trying some of the oriental
varieties -- some of which will also give a supply in the winter, and
let you make brain-blasting Korean-style pickles (recipes in Madhur
Jaffrey's terrific _Eastern Vegetarian Cooking_ or, no doubt, on the
Internet).

Mike.