Does anyone know why radishes get all tops and no radish? It wasn't too hot and they were planted on a "root" day according to the bio-dynamics planting calendar. My only guess would be too much nitrogen in the soil? If you have any other ideas, I'd appreciate hearing them. This has stumped my mother since my dad always grew such nice radishes.

I've had this happen if they weren't thinned enough.

Interesting. That's a new one. I'll tell my mother. Thanks!

Overcrowding (as Chelle mentioned), heavy soil, and insufficient/uneven watering can all cause radishes not to form good roots. You're right that too much nitrogen in comparison to other nutrients (primarily phosphorous) can encourage leafy growth as well.

For your next attempt, try working some compost into the beds a few weeks before you plant, then mulching once the plant tops are large enough not to be covered. Those two things will help with soil texture, water retention, and nutrient balance... the spacing of the plants you'll still need to take care of, either by seeding further apart or thinning aggressively.

Well, it's not heavy soil, she has the sandy soil common in northern Mi. But the watering could be part of it too. I'll let her know. She will appreciate the responses. She's close to 86 and still gardening strong! Maybe I'll make some seed tape for her so they will be spaced so she won't have to worry about that part.

Thanks, for the input.

I grow in sand, too. It really is perfect for root crops texture-wise, but at least around here, requires a lot of amending because it just doesn't hold onto water or nutrients. Mulch with something that will break down in a season and you're preparing for the next crop while this crop grows

Well, it's my mother's garden and I am having a tough time trying to get her to understand the need for compost and mulch and unfortunately, she's in MI. and I'm in GA. But I'll remind her since she did ask what to do!

I, on the other hand have clay. We have been amending and each year I get one row (3x50) for root crops so I will add extra sand, vermiculite, compost and work it in good. I got some really nice carrots and parsnips this year so it must be working! Beets were a bust though

Yeah, I caught that in your previous reply and still kept the second-person pronouns. I'll blame a sleepy brain, it's been a long day. I can only hope I'm gardening strong when I'm her age! I just turned 30, and my bum knee is already making me feel like an old hen destined for the soup pot

I'm sure there are other things that could help, but I find that mulch and compost are two things that a garden can never have too much of, particularly on nutrient-poor sand. I can't imagine gardening without them. I may be a bit overzealous - I will compost just about anything and use about half as many things as mulch, sometimes well outside the conventional wisdom. So far, my plants don't complain.

I tried Daikon radishes one year, probably too early or too c old (or something else wrong). The roots were TINY, but I let them grow and bloom (very pretty). The tons of radish pods were delicious!

Next year, I got a few roots 6-8" long ... but much too hot for me.

P.S.
>> add extra sand, vermiculite, compost and work it in good

Can't beat lots of compost! I'm a big fan of pine bark, or any evergreen bark. For softening clay soil, I like well shredded bark fines. It's like peat moss, but provides loft for 2-3 years instead of 4-5 months.

For aeration, small bark nuggets.
For top-dress mulch, large bark nuggets or wood chips.

Whatever bark product I buy, I screen it, and then use the different sizes in different ways. I even use it for potting mix and seed-starting mix.

Aren't they using Daikons also for breaking up clay soil now? I have never tried them.

I made seed tapes today for my mother so at least she shouldn't have to thin them. She said she would add compost and mulch. Hopefully she'll have better luck this year

>> Aren't they using Daikons also for breaking up clay soil now?

Yes, that and "tillage radishes". That is the main reason I bought Daikon radishes: the thought of roots penetrating 18" into my heavy clay was exciting. I figured the radishes would need jackhammers or dynamite, and might keep me up all night with the hammering. Like Daikon fracking.

Instead the roots were only a few inches long.

No sleepless nights then at least!

Slept like a baby.

It is humbling to read about these wonder-radi9shes that can break up "the hardest clay soils" ... then plant them in one of my AMENDED beds and have them fizzle out and give up.

we4ll, I knew I needed about 5 times as much compost and lots more of everything else as well.

I wish I could swap about 10 cubic yards of clay for some Florida sandy subsoil!

Is yours that gray sticky clay like Michigan? We have the RED clay here. It was so strange when I first moved here. Everytime I took pictures to post all my friends said they couldn't get used to seeing the red clay. Most of my beds are not quite so red now but we've only been amending for two years so they still have a ways to go.

I just thought they were the new "miracle plant" that was going to help break up this stuff. What's the point if you have to amend the soil to get them to grow?

We just keep dumping the composted horse manure and growing clover and buckwheat. But I have to double amend my root crop row every year since we rotate the 20 rows every year. On year three...

I actually tried to grow peanuts last year...you know, GA, peanuts. What was I thinking? I guess there are a few sandy spots but they certainly aren't any where near us!

Ugh, I grew up on that red clay, with shale less than a foot below the surface. It was so miserable to dig in, let alone try to grow anything. I wish I had some advice... we got a truckload of topsoil delivered when we redid the gardens at that house so we could avoid dealing with the clay completely.

My daughter's in MI and that's what she does instead of trying to amend. Not that she can't, but she's always IN A HURRY! She'll learn. But I've gotta say, her flowers look a heck of a lot better than mine ever have!

I grow most of my stuff at my son's and he's really big into amending and building the soil. It's just s o o o o s s l l o o w w

When I did my back-yard landscape two years ago, I knew it was way more than I wanted to tackle at my age and so I hired a commercial landscape outfit to do he work. The landscape was to be approximately 10 ft deep and 150 ft wide. In central and northeast Mississippi, we have what's called Yazoo clay, and this clay sits approximately 2" below my "topsoil" and grass, and is literally 10 ft deep! When it is wet, a shovel-full weighs in at 25 lbs and when it is dry, it is like concrete. So you see the reason why I hired this job out. The landscape company brought in two huge backhoes, a huge tiller, and a trencher to do the job. Of the 12 workers, 5 had shovels in hand, four had pitch-forks, and 3 had wheelbarrows. The project took five days and I don't think they made a cent of profit on the work! They had to dig out clay four feet down and it filled two dump-trucks. They brought in two dump-trucks full of "garden soil" and then a dump-truck full of cypress mulch. I think they put in around 50 plants. So far, due to all their hard work and ammending every square inch of planted soil, everything is still growing well. Ken

>> I just thought they were the new "miracle plant" that was going to help break up this stuff. What's the point if you have to amend the soil to get them to grow?

My theory is that what farmers call "heavy soil" is already so good that I would kill for a few yards of it. (Well, not kill for it, but at least envy and drool.) What I call heavy clay, they would laugh at and say: "Yeah, right, don't even TRY to farm THERE!"

Mine is only gray in a few places where it i extra-pure. The average rock-hard stuff is dark brown. I assume that means its only 70-80% literal clay particles.

My approach is to make a raised bed with 6-10" of amended soil that is merely "very heavy clay" soil. I amend with com post, bark fines, crushed rock etc. Then I try to add enough m ore compost every year to keep the top layer light enough to be live soil and support plants.

But first I assure that another 6-12" of clay UNDER the floor of my raised bed is graded down to some trench that runs downhill. To the extent that the clay layer "perks", it will drain and let air in to whatever microscopic pores exist. That way, roots and worms and leached compost can get into it SLOOOWLY.

This way, roots, worms and organics will gradually deepen my root zone. Years f4om now, the original clay might be only 15-25% of the soil in and under my raised beds. I fear that I will still have a small hill of excavated clay waiting for more compost or cover crop roots to penetrate it..

In theory, and if I had more sunny spots, I could grade my clay hills, amend an inch or two of the surface, then plant crops like clover or alfalfa that DO have little jackhammer roots for breaking up clay. Keep adding organic matter, and in a few years I might have 6" of soil good enough to allow cover crops on a wider area.

Georgia is probably sandy near the coast, at least that's how Virginia is. It's amazing how different things are within a single state (and not even a very big one!). I grew up on the edge of the Appalachian foothills, with heavy red clay and shale, and in zone six where we got at least a few significant snows each winter. Now I'm on the coast, with nearly pure sand, and in zone eight where frosts are infrequent. There's barely 200 miles between the two!