Houston Lawn & Garden

Seeds planted on 3/8/10

Since we have so many things going on in the garden this year, I figured that the best way to cohesively show the progression of each type of vegetable is to dedicate individual posts to each of them.  That way you can see the progress and the time line on a single page without having to jump all over the place.  Just another thoughtful service brought to you by the good folks at HG&L (-;  So lets talk about Radishes.  It doesn’t matter whether you love them or hate them, Radishes are probably one of the easiest vegetables to grow in your garden and with the exception of Green Beans they are the closest thing to instant gratification that you can find.

Seeds sprouting on 3/11/10

Just poke a little hole into the dirt with your finger about 6 inches deep and drop in a seed and repeat about every  inch down the line.  Give it just enough water to soak to the bottom of the planter than sit back.  Within one week you should see some life popping out of the dirt.  I’m sorry about the picture quality on this one.  I must have had too much caffeine that day.  Regardless, you can see that there is actual growth happening here and that it is not just some air brushed mock up.  And needless to say, I’m not using what you would consider to be ‘premium’ potting soil either.  From the looks of this stuff, I must have picked it up on clearance from the Dollar store…and yet they grow.

Seedlings on 3/19/10

Here they are just one week later with their wings spread out like they are about to take flight.  The dirt looks like it wants some water badly, but I’m going to fight the urge.  I gave it enough water when I planted them to know that there is enough moisture in the bottom half of the planter for the roots to develop well.  Radishes have a long tap root that wants to go deep instead of wide.  This is why there is no problem with planting them so close together.  Radishes like plenty of sunlight, but they also do best in cooler conditions so the March-April time frame for Houston is about as ideal as it gets for these guys.

3/25/10 - Bumper Crop!

Here we are less that one week later and it looks like they are all out playing around in this beautiful spring weather.  If you click on the picture to see the full screen view, you will notice some spot on the leaves.  No, it’s not any kind of chemicals of pest control powder.  If you’ve been in Houston for at least a year you’ll know exactly what this stuff is.  That’s right, it’s the stuff that every car wash operator and dry cleaner in the city prays for…the nasty yellow pine pollen.  It gets all over EVERYTHING!  No worries.  These radishes think that they’re playing in the snow or something because it sure looks like they are having a good time.

The Teenagers - 3/30/10

We moved the planter to an area that will get our teens some better direct sunlight.  They are moving right along as you can see and it wont be long before we’ll be able to sample some of the goods.  You will know when radishes are ready to be picked when you see the red tops of the fruit poking out of the ground at the base of the plant.  You will want to pick them sooner than later because if they stay in the ground for too long they will start to split.  It is also said that the longer they stay in the ground, the hotter the taste is.  Since these guys grow so fast, we are going to prepare another planter for round two and that way we can experiment with different timings and conditions to see how it effects the growth and flavor.

4/4/10 - Young Adults

Here is a nice top view of these guys that are almost ready for picking.  Rumor has it that you can eat the leaves of these plants also.  I nibbled on one just out of curiosity and all that I can say is that I would need an extra helping of dressing on my salad if these radish leaves were in there.  Not only does it have a very bitter taste, but the texture of the leaves are not meant for the inside of your mouth.  If you feel the leaves with your fingers, they almost have a ‘stickery’ feeling to them.  For those of you that are not from Texas, ‘stickery’ is a legitimate word in these parts.  And also for those of you wondering what all of those brown squiggly things are in from of the planter, those are pollen pods from the pine tress where all the yellow gunk comes from.

4/13/10 - Time for Pickin & Grinnin

Here’s a feller that’s ready to be plucked out of the ground.  As you can see the bright red crown of the radish is clearly exposed at the base of the plant.  We are going to grab the leaves as seen here and pull straight up and we have our first sample of the crop.  We cut the leaves off the top slightly into the red meat of the fruit, just enough to expose the white inside, and we’ll do the same with the tap root on the bottom.  We wash it off real good then cut it in half…half for me and half for my wife because that’s how we roll.  Now just a little bit of salt on top for taste and here we go.  YIKES, we forgot to have a drink on stand-by!!!  That guy was so hot it took our breath away!  OK, maybe we ought to start picking the others right away!