Raphanus sativus
Round yellow radish, golden radish, golden radish: yellow is a rare color among radishes, and this one has a matching particularity—its white flesh is noticeably milder than that of pink radishes, almost without any bite. Taking 40 days from sowing to plate, it is also one of the fastest crops in the vegetable garden.
Characteristics:
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Golden-yellow skin: an unusual color, with crisp white flesh.
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Mild flavor: barely spicy, perfect for children and raw vegetables.
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40-day cultivation: one of the fastest harvests you can grow.
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Can be grown in a planter: perfect for a balcony or terrace.
Sowing advice:
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Exposure: sunny, or lightly shaded during periods of intense heat.
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Soil: cool, loose, rich in humus, and well drained. Avoid stony soils, which hinder root growth, and fresh manure, which causes the roots to fork.
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Method: sow thinly, directly in place, only 1 cm deep. Sow small amounts at a time, every two weeks: much more effective than one large sowing. See how to sow your seeds.
Care advice:
- Thin to 4 cm if the seedlings are dense: when crowded, radishes produce leaves rather than roots.
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The decisive point: water frequently, never allowing the soil to dry out. A thirsty radish becomes hot, fibrous, and hollow.
Harvesting advice:
- Harvest as soon as they reach their full size, without waiting: past the optimal stage, the root becomes hollow within a few days.
- The leaves can be cooked in soup or made into pesto.
Beneficial combinations:
Benefits for biodiversity:
- When allowed to flower, it produces white to lilac flowers that are heavily visited by bees and hoverflies, whose larvae devour aphids.
- Its green, crisp, peppery seed pods can be eaten raw—a further reason to let it flower.
Uses:
- Raw with salt, in salads for color, or as pickles. Its mildness means it can be served on its own, unlike more pungent radishes.
Saving your own seeds:
Allow a few plants to flower, then form their swollen seed pods. Harvest them when thoroughly dry and shell them. Be careful: Raphanus sativus plants cross with one another, so isolate your seed plants from other radishes. See how to store your seeds.
Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Auvergne Volcanoes, we choose open-pollinated, non-hybrid varieties, tested for their germination rate, sorted and carefully packaged, with no chemical treatment whatsoever. Our conviction: to give gardeners back the ability to resow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.
A mild golden radish, harvested in 40 days.
