Forty seeds, one row, five centimetres apart, in Buddy’s Sydney patch. Cherry Belle radish, a centimetre deep, watered in straight away so the seed coat doesn’t dry out before it cracks.
Sydney’s in the warm temperate zone, and right now the soil’s sitting close to the 15 to 20 degree band radish actually wants. That’s the whole trick with radish. It doesn’t want fussing, it wants cool roots, even moisture, and enough room that the roots aren’t shouldering each other out of the way. I’ve kept most of the row at five centimetres and left a stretch at ten, so I can compare the two spacings when the bulbs come up.
The bed’s already carrying lettuce and spinach on one side, leeks two rows over. Radish is one of the easiest things I plant next to them. It’s shallow rooted, it’s quick, and by the time the lettuce wants the extra elbow room, the radish is usually pulled and on a plate. Chervil and cress would slot in just as easily if I had a spare corner, but I’m giving this row to radish alone for now.
What the next month looks like
I’m expecting the first green loops by around the first of July if the soil stays damp, five to seven days is the usual germination window for Cherry Belle. First true leaves follow a week or so after. From there it’s mostly thinning, pulling that five centimetre spacing back to whatever seedlings look strongest and leaving the rest room to bulb.
Cherry Belle’s a thirty day radish, so the twenty fourth of July is circled as harvest day. Warm temperate Sydney should hold in range for most of that window, though a hot stretch can push radish to bolt and turn woody before it’s bulbed properly, so I’m watching the forecast more than I’m watering.
If you’re gardening in a similar zone and want to follow along, get seed in now while the soil’s still cool, and give the row some afternoon shade if your patch runs warmer than mine. Cool temperate growers further south have more runway and can hold off a few weeks yet.
The chooks have already clocked the fresh bed. Keeping them out of it is going to be the real test of this whole exercise.
