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When to plant
radishes in the UK
The quickest crop you can grow — seed to plate in 4 weeks. Sow between slower crops to use the space while you wait.
Work out your own dates
Starts from the recommended sow date for your area. Sowed on a different day, or planted out late? Adjust below and the harvest moves with it.
Using the UK-average last frost · 15 April · add your postcode to tune it
Growing journey
4 weeks from sowing to harvest
Get radishes seeds
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What radishes need
Sun or partial shade. Light soil. Not fussy.
Spacing
3cm between plants · 20cm between rows
Sow thinly in rows and thin to this spacing once seedlings emerge.
Varieties worth growing
French Breakfast
commonLong and elegant, red-shouldered with a white tip, and mild enough to eat like sweets straight from the soil. As pretty in the hand as it is on the plate.
Radishes with butter and salt
Good butter, flaky sea salt, and the freshest radishes you can pull — dip and eat. The French have done it this way for generations, and they're right to.
Cherry Belle
commonRound, red and ready in about four weeks — quicker than almost anything you can grow. A lovely one to sow with children, who get to pull something of their own before their patience quite runs out.
Quick pickled radishes
Slice paper-thin, toss into a jar with rice vinegar, a pinch of sugar, and a star anise. Ready in an hour. Incredible on tacos, noodles, or anything that needs a pink crunch.
Watermelon
rarePlain green on the outside, then you slice it open to a vivid magenta starburst within. Mild and faintly peppery, and the sort of thing that quietly stops a table mid-conversation.
Watermelon radish carpaccio
Slice razor-thin on a mandoline, fan out on a white plate, drizzle with yuzu or lemon juice, good olive oil, and a scatter of black sesame seeds. Looks like stained glass.
Sparkler
commonRed on top, white below, quick to grow and gently mild — a cheerful little radish for the front of a border or a window box, and a kind one to grow with children.
Radish top pesto
Don't waste the leaves. Blitz radish tops with garlic, parmesan, pine nuts and olive oil into a peppery, fresh pesto — the best of the radish is often the part we forget.
When to sow radishes
Based on UK average frost date. Enter your postcode for exact dates, or find your city.
Where to buy radishes seeds
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What you'll need for radishes
The stuff beginners wish they'd bought sooner.
Protects from late frost and gives seedlings a head start. Keep a roll in the shed — you'll use it constantly.
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Get your exact dates
Enter your postcode for personalised planting dates for radishes.