Post by galina on Mar 12, 2010 6:34:39 GMT -5
I received a nice portion of black winter radish seeds and they are producing well under frost cloth cover. We are zone 8. The roots are useful both as raw salad vegetable (peel and grate) and also as cooked vegetable, similar to turnip. Their tops are also edible, but a bit tough.
I am going to save seeds to keep the variety going. Having just refreshed my memory on how to do this, I thought I might as well write down the salient points for everybody's benefit.
Early season radishes produce seeds in the same year, autumn/overwintering radishes the following year (biennial).
The absolute minimum for seedsaving is six plants, 16 is a suitable number and more is better to preserve a variety's characteristics and health. Radishes are outbreeders, self-incompatible and can cross with other radishes and wild radish. Provided there are no other radishes going to seed in the vicinity, one variety of radish can be left to go to seed on the plot without the need for caging and blowfly pollination.
It is necessary to lift roots to look at them properly and select the best, healthiest and most uniform roots for seed. Also we are advised to check that the foliage on all plants is similar to keep the variety pure.
They need to be replanted 18 inches or 45cm apart. I am going for a block formation. The space needed for 16 plants in a block is 4 square metres or 36 square feet. As radishes grow very tall before they flower and branch too, they need strong supports.
Then comes the good bit. After numerous pinkish white flowers the seed pods form. These can be shorter or longer depending on variety, but they are always fleshy and fat and juicy. It is like a whole other crop. The plants produce so many pods that eating them is not only possible, but it is a productive crop in its own right. We eat them raw in salads, where their mild radish flavour and crispy pods is a real surprise for anybody who has never tasted them. But I also freeze pods for a quick addition to stir-fry dishes, pasta salads etc.
After the green and fleshy stage, the pods turn light brown and woody. They don't spring open and shed seeds. I pull up the whole plants and leave them to dry, out of the rain, for a bit more if necessary, until all pods are fully dry. Then I cut off branches and place these in a sturdy large plastic bucket (muck bucket). And tread on them until the plant material is broken up and the seed pods have been crushed to release the seeds. Harvesting seed by breaking the pods with fingers is very hard on the hands and tedious for anything other than a small amount of seed.
The seeds are light to mid brown and surprisingly large compared with other brassica. Sieving through a colander lets the seed drop down and separate from the plant debris. Winnowing the seeds removes the last of the chaff. The seed yield is high and the seed should stay viable for 4 years in good storage.
I learned from the seedsaving guides from HDRA, Sue Stickland's book 'Back Garden Seed Saving' and many other sources.
I am going to save seeds to keep the variety going. Having just refreshed my memory on how to do this, I thought I might as well write down the salient points for everybody's benefit.
Early season radishes produce seeds in the same year, autumn/overwintering radishes the following year (biennial).
The absolute minimum for seedsaving is six plants, 16 is a suitable number and more is better to preserve a variety's characteristics and health. Radishes are outbreeders, self-incompatible and can cross with other radishes and wild radish. Provided there are no other radishes going to seed in the vicinity, one variety of radish can be left to go to seed on the plot without the need for caging and blowfly pollination.
It is necessary to lift roots to look at them properly and select the best, healthiest and most uniform roots for seed. Also we are advised to check that the foliage on all plants is similar to keep the variety pure.
They need to be replanted 18 inches or 45cm apart. I am going for a block formation. The space needed for 16 plants in a block is 4 square metres or 36 square feet. As radishes grow very tall before they flower and branch too, they need strong supports.
Then comes the good bit. After numerous pinkish white flowers the seed pods form. These can be shorter or longer depending on variety, but they are always fleshy and fat and juicy. It is like a whole other crop. The plants produce so many pods that eating them is not only possible, but it is a productive crop in its own right. We eat them raw in salads, where their mild radish flavour and crispy pods is a real surprise for anybody who has never tasted them. But I also freeze pods for a quick addition to stir-fry dishes, pasta salads etc.
After the green and fleshy stage, the pods turn light brown and woody. They don't spring open and shed seeds. I pull up the whole plants and leave them to dry, out of the rain, for a bit more if necessary, until all pods are fully dry. Then I cut off branches and place these in a sturdy large plastic bucket (muck bucket). And tread on them until the plant material is broken up and the seed pods have been crushed to release the seeds. Harvesting seed by breaking the pods with fingers is very hard on the hands and tedious for anything other than a small amount of seed.
The seeds are light to mid brown and surprisingly large compared with other brassica. Sieving through a colander lets the seed drop down and separate from the plant debris. Winnowing the seeds removes the last of the chaff. The seed yield is high and the seed should stay viable for 4 years in good storage.
I learned from the seedsaving guides from HDRA, Sue Stickland's book 'Back Garden Seed Saving' and many other sources.