Radish Lessons

The radishes are up. Green leaves that sting the hands sprouting from the pink roots that only just top out at the surface of the soil, the rest hidden in the spring-wet dirt. The spicy first taste of spring.

The radishes have made me think about two chores in gardening that feel backwards. First, thinning: the act of pulling up plants you seeded only weeks ago. We broadcasted the seed in our wide beds, trying for perfectly, randomly spaced seeding. In practice, however, the seeds ended up being in little clumps here and there, and those little clumps of seeds are now plants crowding each other out. They have become weeds; the definition of a weed, after all, is a plant that is out of place, and these radishes may only be an inch out of place, but it is enough to inhibit them from producing those crunchy, spicy roots. And so I pull.

Square Foot Gardening, by Mel Bartholomew, does offer a solution to the counterintuitive task of thinning. It advocates meticulous planting, one seed per so many square inches, so the plants will always have enough room throughout their lifespan. It is logical, thrifty, and efficient. And maddeningly slow. We gave this method a try our first summer here, but one season of planting with a yard stick, one seed per hole, bed after gridded bed, was enough for the C.F. and I to accept that we are not that kind of gardener. It requires a level of discipline I’m not sure we possess. So, this year we broadcasted the seeds hither and yon, and now have lush green beds of poorly spaced plants. It seems that it will either be frustrating at the beginning, or frustrating at the end.

The second backwards chore that requires a great deal of forbearance is letting the nicest plants with the biggest radishes go to seed. We have been learning the art of saving seed for the past few years, and to do it properly you let your best plants stay in the ground, uneaten, so that next year the seeds you plant will be from the best of your crop. It is hard to leave those beautiful plants in the ground, to look beyond the ten minutes until supper all the way around the calendar to next year’s harvest.

Pulling up radishes, leaving radishes in the ground. I thought we were trying to grow some radishes to harvest! In fact, we have enough radishes to eat like rabbits for weeks. We’ve been eating salads for a couple weeks now, lettuce with radishes and spring onions on top. Anyone is welcome to join us on the porch for a Cedar Creek Farm special!