iatebrisbane.com

No wonder Peter Rabbit felt the inescapable urge to run carelessly into Mr McGregor’s garden. At first I thought he was a damn fool for not accompanying his well-mannered sisters, Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail on their blackberry-picking venture. Who would pass up eating fresh blackberries straight from the vine? It just sounds delicious. This, of course, is what I thought before we started growing some of our own vegetables in our little garden. Granted, most of the vegies are still in their first stages, but not the radishes, one of Peter’s favourite foods! They’re almost all eaten already! And not by Peter Rabbit, by two other pesky critters- Sarah Rabbit and Darren Rabbit!

Radishes are brilliant – and here’s why:

1.  First of all, when you sow the seeds of radishes within about 3 days you can see growth. This is so much faster than anything else in the garden, which can sometimes take up to 3 or 4 weeks! We sow them fairly close together in a big bunch.

2.  As soon as they start to show their sprout leaves you can eat them, roots and all. They’re really fresh and peppery and are a great addition to salads and sandwiches. The stem has a lovely pink hue.

3.  Pick sprouts from all across the plot when ever you feel like a feed - this way you’ll progressively thin out the crop, which will leave more space for the ones you left in to grow bigger.

4.  Once they start growing their very small true leaves you can still nibble on them – Just pinch off any hairy leaves

5.  After a while the radish bulbs will start to bulge just under the surface of the soil. Pick through the plot to find the biggest radishes… and leave the smaller ones… progressively thinning, thinning, thinning the crop. We have often found ourselves standing in the garden, sifting through the plants, pulling one out, wiping it on our shirts and eating them right then and there. It’s a true pleasure.

We have had our radishes in for about 5 weeks and we’ve eaten more than half already! They are absolutely the easiest thing to grow and I recommend giving them a go in a small patch of ground, add some compost, a bit of fertilizer, a very thin covering of mulch and you’ll be laughing!

COMPETITION REMINDER!! We have a mixed case of 24 bottles of Apple and Pear Cider to give away from Punt Road Wines. To enter, all you have to do is write a comment on ANY post on iatebrisbane. Open to Brisbane (and surrounds) entrants only (could you imagine the international shipping fees on a case of cider?!). Check out the details and the tricky little fine print here.