How to Grow Black Radish

Planting Black Radish

Black Radish is a cool season vegetable in the Brassicaceae family. Getting the timing right is the difference between a strong stand and a disappointing one, so the windows below are given relative to your own last spring frost and first fall frost rather than a generic calendar date. Look up your local frost dates and count back or forward from there.

You can sow Black Radish directly into the garden 0–2 weeks before your last frost.

For a fall crop, sow 8–10 weeks before your first fall frost so plants mature as the weather cools.

Spacing and Planting Depth

Give Black Radish room to mature. The figures below come from verified extension and seed-supplier data for typical varieties.

Days to Maturity

Black Radish reaches maturity in 55–70 days from sowing.

Black Radish is ready to harvest after about 63 days. Harvest before summer heat or, for fall crops, before a hard freeze, to keep quality high.

Conditions and Care

As a cool-season vegetable, Black Radish does its best growing in the cooler weather of spring and fall and tends to bolt or turn bitter in summer heat. It is frost hardy and can shrug off light freezes, so it can stay in the ground later into the season than tender crops.

Black Radish needs full sun — give it at least six hours of direct light a day for the best growth and flavor. Sow seed about 0.5 inches deep, then keep the soil evenly moist until seedlings establish.

Black Radish belongs to the Brassicaceae family; rotating where you grow members of this family each year helps limit the build-up of soil-borne pests and disease. Black Radish is generally grown as a single planting each season rather than succession sown.

Companion Plants

Pairing Black Radish with the right neighbors can improve growth and deter pests; a few combinations are best avoided.

Grows well with: Lettuce (Loose-leaf), Cucumber

Growing Notes

Winter storage radish.

Sources

• Johnny's Selected Seeds