You probably don't think about radishes very often.  The last time you ate one you probably encountered the peppery and almost bitter taste of thinly-sliced radish taproot in your chef's salad.  Having encountered the strong flavor you may have even picked-around the remaining redish slices in your salad bowl, leaving a pitiful few slivers soaking in your leftover ranch dressing for the waiter to take away.  Radishes are more than just a part of a salad mix.  Plus they are easy to grow yourself - bonus!  Let's take a closer look at this underappreciated vegetable.

So maybe you've been checking out some of our stories on square foot gardening, herb gardening and growing tomatoes in a bucket and thought that you'd like to see how green your own thumb is but you're not even sure what to start growing.  Well radishes are a great place to start. 

You can grow 'em year round
First of all, they can be grown outdoors 6-7 months of the year in North America and practically year-round in Europe and Japan.  So if you get started and decide you want to keep growing radishes in your backyard, there's a very good chance you won't have to wait an entire year before harvesting your next batch.

They grow fast!
Radishes also tend to grow very quickly.  Summer radish varieties can germinate in a week and be ready for harvesting in just 4 weeks.  With such a short maturity cycle radishes make a great veggie crop for a children's garden.  Oops, I just realised I mentioned radish varieties but didn't explain what that means.  See, plants like radishes come in a range of varieties, each with their own special characteristics.  For example, some varieties are meant to be grown in certain seasons, whereas others have special shapes or textures.  Ask your local gardening guru for more information on which variety will work best for your local conditions.

They're tasty!
Yet another reason to grow radishes is that you can use the entire plant.  That's right.  If you've only ever seen radishes in a salad mix or as pre-washed, pretty little red balls in your produce department you might be surprised to learn that you can eat the whole thing, including the greens.  And for the 1% of you that already knew that, you have the right to turn a smug smile. :)

You can toss the roots and greens together in olive oil, make a lovely Italian-style soup, or add a few springs of raw radish greens to a salad (not too many!).  If you're not a fan of the radish greens themselves and you're growing your own you can let them go to seed and harvest the peppery pods that go great in salad. 

Savoury soups, peppery salad toppings and stir-fry all from your own humble little garden that you can grow in 5 or 6 weeks.  Still not convinced?  How about that this is one of the few veggies that warrants hunting for a prized Fraggle collectible to guard your crop?  It's surely more original that a typical run-of-the mill garden gnome.

So c'mon, give radishes a try! 

» Radish (Wikipedia)