Grow Your Own Radish French Breakfast Seeds Fresh Vegetables Fruit Herbs

Radish French Breakfast is a vigorous, fast maturing variety that produces oval shaped roots with a white tip. This is a standard variety that is very popular with amateur growers.

Sow undercover January - April

Sow Outdoors April - August

Then undercover again September - October.

Growing Radish from Seeds.

Sowing

Sow thinly, one seed 1" apart at a half inch depth, in rows 6" apart for summer varieties and 9" for winter types. Germination only takes up to 7 days. You can sow from January or February under cloches, otherwise sow from March onwards. Sow every couple of weeks for a succession of crops throughout the summer but cease by early June as later sown summer varieties are often woody and disappointing.

Winter varieties are sown in July or early August for harvesting from late October onwards.

Growing On

Summer varieties should not need thinning unless they are overcrowded, in which case you should thin to 1" for small radishes and 3-4" for larger ones and Japanese radishes. Winter varieties should be thinned to 6" apart.

Harvesting

Harvesting begins only 3 - 6 weeks after sowing for summer types and 10 - 12 weeks for winter ones. You should start pulling up summer varieties when they are around the size of a 10p for the round types and no bigger than the size of your thumb for the monger types. Don't allow them to grow too big otherwise they will simply become woody. Japanese types can be allowed to grow to around 6" or longer if they are to be used in cooking. Winter varieties can be harvested in November and stored in boxes between layers of sand or dry peat, in a cool, dry place. Just as with carrots, do not let the radishes touch and check for any rotting specimens. Alternatively, they can be left in the ground and pulled as required making sure the tops are covered with straw or frost protection during cold weather