Four weeks ago, I planted a bunch of radish seeds. Also some other things, but the radishes were the most exciting because… radishes go from seed to harvest in just 28 days.
So here we are, 28 days later. And here I am, harvesting the very first radish.
This is probably not what you were anticipating, either.
This sort of thing happens in gardening. Things grow slowly, or not at all, or they grow and then are eaten overnight by the goddamn deer or the goddamn slugs.
Which reminds me: if you have been picking slugs and snails off your plants and dropping them into a bucket of water to drown, pay attention to where you leave the bucket. I was taking out the trash and accidentally knocked the slug bucket over. Dead bloated slugs all over the sidewalk. Not a pretty sight.
Back to the radishes. Why aren’t they ready in 28 days, as promised? Because February 1 may have been a little on the early side to start planting — I mean, it’s March now, and a lot of you are still buried under snow. Even here, it’s still pretty chilly at night, and the days are still a little short. The radishes took nine days just to sprout, so it makes sense that they’ll take a little longer to fatten up.
In the meantime, I have been planting another few squares of radishes, carrots, beets, and peas every two weeks or so. This should give me a continuous harvest of tender young vegetables throughout the growing season. It also lets me take photos like this, so you can see how quickly radishes grow.
Radish seed, radish planted 14 days ago, radish planted 28 days ago.
