Learning About Radishes

For a few weeks, I've been gradually picking a radish or two a day so that I could tell when they were big enough to pick. I wasn't sure how you tell when something like that is done, and I was afraid they'd just rot in the ground (thereby denying me Tasty Radishes!). Then this past week I got a little busy and forgot to go out and check on them. But tonight, lo and behold, when I walked outside there were some pushing themselves up out of the ground. Lesson: Radishes (and many other root-type vegetables I would wager) will let you know when it's time to eat them.

I read somewhere that if you are not very careful to see that your radishes have enough water they will be too spicy to be very good. I like radishes to be just a little bit spicy anyway--and we have had a good amount of rain--but I was very lazy in my watering and they still ended up very nice. I didn't really make sure to break up the soil well before planting them either, hence I didn't get perfect little nice fat Santa-shaped radishes. But I kind of like the way the shapes ended up--like little gnarled and grizzly garden gnomes that I can bite the heads off of.

And, in the future, when scrubbing radishes, I will be much more alert thanks to this little guy. He was pretty lucky, he came very close to going down the drain. I think he's the reason my radish tops have holes in them.

But I have enough to share a little with so fuzzy a little gentleman, so after letting him nibble his fill out of the leftover tops, I let him go outside back in the garden.