"Crisp, peppery little summer radishes are indeed the perfect way to kick–start a meal, bold enough to set the gastric juices flowing, yet barely denting the appetite." Sophie Grigson

I have a south facing screened in back porch.  My retirement activities include half-hearted efforts at container gardening – on the back porch.  Not much exercise involved so it doesn’t make me feel old.  I don’t even have to get dressed, as there are no neighbors on that side of the house.  I won’t tell you now (perhaps later) all I have done there but I do want to tell you about my current effort with radishes.  I can’t tell you the ending because I don’t know it yet.

I like to try novel things, as you will discern when I tell you other back porch stories.  Wondering this spring what new challenges to present myself I remembered that radishes, in the family garden, when I was a kid, often were my responsibility and I enjoyed eating them.  They grew well in New Mexico.  So the die was cast, 

I bought the seeds and planted them helter-skelter in a tray filled with good soil.  I fertilized and watered them regularly.  They sprouted and had beautiful leaves.

With great anticipation I pulled the first one.  There was no bulb on the root!  Just a straw sized root all the way.  I waited a couple more weeks and tried others with the same result.  I had never seen a radish with no radish.

I searched on the Internet and discovered that there are two causes for this disaster.  One cause is planting them too close together.  Apparently they sense each other and quit expanding in an effort to be a good neighbor. (I know some people who could learn from a radish.) I admit that I – in an effort not to exercise myself too much - was a bit careless about planting,  I didn’t thin out the sprouts either.  The second cause is a chemical imbalance in the soil.  Radishes need more potassium than is usually available to form a bulb.  Who knew that?  Who knew that New Mexico soil had adequate potassium?  Well, upon reflection, there are potash mines near Carlsbad.

I pulled up all the sterile radish plants and I looked for a plant fertilizer with an abundance of potassium – and found none.  But I did find a potassium dietary supplement in the human vitamin aisle.  Hell, potassium in the same for humans and plants so I bought some, dissolved a few tablets and sprinkled the tray.  I was very careful about the spacing of the seeds.  Now all I have to do is wait.

My grandparents were all farmers.  I’m sure I’ll have a bumper crop.

2014 Lester C. Welch