I 'thinned' my radishes today.....

[Mind_your_head]

It told me on the seed packet that after I saw 3-4 leaves I should 'thin' them, otherwise the top leaves would develop and no radish bulbs :-(

SO, not knowing how to 'thin' them......I dug out the little germinated clusters and tried to gently seperate/replant them. Some of the little plants didn't have any root structure left, so I tossed them. The rest who seemed to have a viable root structure, I planted about an inch apart from each other ~ as instructed. Two plants I didn't disturb. I just pinched off the extra stalks/leaves.

A little experiment for me. The plants know what they are doing.....I'm attempting to learn their ways.

If I would have just pinched back the clusters, I would only have nine radishes. But by dividing/replanting them I will have about 40 radishes (if they survive)

Hope this makes sense. Did I 'thin' properly?

Peace,
M_Y_H

[ThomWV]

1. On thinning and radishes (and other stuff)

Its that funny, my wife just put in our 3rd planting of radishes yesterday.

The thing with some seeds is that they are so small that it is hard to plant them with proper spacing. Its because they are so small. So normally you would try to lay them out thin in a little furrows you dug out with your finger and then when they start to emerge you begin simply pinching them off to establish the proper spacing (about 3" apart).

You will find that the better job you do of spacing the seeds when you are planting the better you will feel about the thinning. With radishes this is actually pretty simple because you don't need a very large patch. I think our two are 2 feet square each and that's more than we need even with giveaways. Anyway we plant one radishpatch with rows that are about a foot and a half long and 3~4" apart - about 5 or 6 rows and in about 3 weeks we have radishes ready to pull from it - that is when we plant the second little radishpatch right next to the first one. The planting is done by pouring out a small number of the tiny seeds (apx, 10,000 of them) into the palm of one hand and picking them up one at a time and putting them in the row; it only takes 5 minutes. After a couple of weeks of pulling radishes for dinner and munchies they start to get too big and of course if it rains a lot they will split, but by then the next patch is ready so we just pull what is left, toss them in the compost pile, and move to the alternate patch, back and forth all summer long. Don't worry abut trying to save babies, a pack of seeds only cost a buck and a half and it should last you through many plantings.

[wildeyed]

2. I eat the sprouts as I thin.

Swish them around in a bucket of water to get the dirt off the roots first or just nibble the green part.

If the sprouts are really close, snip the green part of one of the seedlings with small scissors so you don't disturb the roots of the main plant. I don't think radishes replant well.