White Radishes: Easter Egg Blend

Since I had one year of gardening under my belt, this year, I decided to flex my gardening muscles and try some different varieties of the veggies I grew last year.  It's nice to change things up a bit.  I decided to try Easter Egg Blend of Radishes from Botanical Interests.  In the seed packet comes a mixture of red, white, rose-pink, purple, and bi-color (red top, white bottom).  I decided to pull some of the radishes, because the greens were getting so bushy and I didn't want the bulbs to get woody.  I am so loving the white radish!  It kinda looks like a teeny tiny turnip.

Even though the Easter Egg Blend is supposed to be a mixture of colors, surprisingly, all the ones I pulled were white!  So strange!!  Also, some of the bulbs didn't size up even though the greens were nice and bushy.  I wonder why that is?  Even so, nothing goes to waste on this plant.  The entire thing, except for the root part on the very bottom is eaten, greens and all.

I wrote last time how I loved to eat radish greens.  Many of you asked how I eat them.  Normally, I just like to saute the greens in a skillet with olive oil, salt and pepper.  But I've heard that you can also make pesto or soup with radish greens.  I haven't tried those recipes yet, but I want to!  So next time you grow radishes, don't discard the tops... Eat them!

Check out what others are harvesting at Daphne's Dandelions.

2011 Harvest Totals:
Radishes - 12 ounces
Strawberry - 6 pounds
Garlic Scapes - 2 pounds

Harvest Monday

This is what I harvested over the weekend.  I think this is probably the last of the strawberries.  We did really well, harvesting just under 6 pounds of strawberries.  It would have been more, had I known the bugs would go to town on my ripe yummy berries.  Next year, I will definitely go to battle with the bugs by using a good dosage of food grade Diatomaceous Earth. This week's plan is to make some strawberry jam.  I'm also starting to harvest the first of the radishes.  I love how cute they are!

I sowed all the radish seeds at the same time, however, it seems like they are all growing at their own pace.  It's funny how some radishes grow faster than others.  Some were ready for the picking and others hadn't quite developed a bulb yet.  Strange.  This is where I am growing my radishes.  They are growing in between the 5 raspberry plants.  I want a steady supply of radishes so I've been sowing new seeds everytime I harvest the ready ones.  It's too bad I hate the taste of radishes, thank goodness the hubs likes them.  I only like to eat radish greens.  If my husband didn't eat radishes, I would definitely grow these just for the greens!!

Check out Daphne's Dandelions to see what others are harvesting!

Radish Seed Pods

Last month, I wrote about these seed pods that grew on one of the radish plants.  At first, I didn't even know they were seed pods, and someone in the garden blogging community confirmed that they were.  That's what I love about the blogosphere, everyone is so knowledgeable.  Since I'm a newbie gardener, practically everything is new to me, so I always write about things I have questions about and without fail, someone always knows the right answer!  You all are amazing!

I pulled the seed pods and put them on my kitchen windowsill to let them dry out.  When I opened the pods, there were about 6 seeds inside.

I can't wait to plant these in the spring.  These pods grew from a heirloom radish, so I hope the new plants will grow seed pods too.

These are all the seeds I collected.  I wonder why this is the only plant that produced seed pods.  Of all the 20+ plants in my garden, only one plant had the pods, does anyone know, do I have to leave the plants in longer to produce seeds?  If I do that, does the radish get too woody to eat?  I've noticed that if I leave the plant in too long, the radish is really bitter and not tasty.