Monday, April 20, 2009

Tiny Radishes

As you can see, my first harvest of radishes are just tiny. I'm not too disappointed since you can grow them so quickly. I did a little research on the internet and found on gardenweb that stunted radishes can be due to ...too much nitrogen, low magnesium, and/or erratic watering(they need constant moisture.) I also checked some of my reference books, including my Jerry Baker gardening books, and he recommends epsom salt use in the garden.
So before I plant new seeds I will add more compost and mix in a small amount of epsom salt and add more mulch. We'll see if this works.
I also read about dropping a small handful of epsom salt where you are going to plant your tomatoes. Apparently tomatoes are heavy magnesium feeders and this prevents yellowing of your tomato leaves.




Eggplants.
The one on the far right is doing much better than the ones on the left. The ones on the left were planted in a smaller container and were root bound. I did transplant them and provided them with seedling food to reduce the shock. I placed them indoors to let them recoup.

4 comments:

  1. Great tip on the salt. The eggplants look really good!

    Liisa

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  2. Hello, I'm not sure if English experience translates into your growing zone, but hopefully this is helpful.
    If ever I have had radish size problems, it has almost always been due to not thinning them enough (a spacing of about 2 inches in rows and 8 to 12 inches between rows) and/or not watering enough in dry spells.

    What I wholeheartedly agree with is your desire to add compost. As an organic gardener some might say I am obsessed with compost. The difference between base rock and lovely crumbly loam is simply down to the creation, through natural processes of lots of organic matter. As gardeners we help that process and using a crop rotation which adds manures, compost, leaf mould and so on really builds up soil structure, improves moisture retention and provides most of the nutrients crops need.
    Sorry that was my hobby-horse wasn't it! I'll go back outside again now the sun is shining.

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  3. Thank you Heskie. I use the squarefoot garden method and it calls for 3 inches apart,16 plants per square... so I'm doing that right which leaves me to look at my composting and watering. We'll see how they turn out with the next batch. Thanks for your input.
    Daisy

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