When I initially planted the baskets, I seeded the radishes thickly to promote green growth. We've enjoyed radish greens as part of our salad blends. Down in my garden in the yard, I actually planted radishes for the roots.
Do you know what I love most about radishes? There's never a too-late moment to eat them. You can eat the leaves. You can eat the roots. If you don't dig them, you can allow them to blossom and those tiny flowers are edible, too. If the flowers are left on the plants, they will develop seed pods, which are also edible. And if you leave any seed pods to mature, you can harvest the seeds for replanting more radishes. I just find that so incredible that every phase of the radish's life is useful.
Here are some of the radish flowers. See how tiny they are? The blossoms are pretty floated in a bowl of soup or sprinkled over a salad or cup of hummus. Their flavor is mildly radish, and while pretty, they go best with savory dishes.
I've shown you these before. These are radish seed pods. They're crisp and hot in flavor, like a radish. I use them in salads or for snacking. I've read they can also be pickled.
We'll eat some of the pods, but I'll need fresh radish seeds next season. So, I'll be leaving several pods to ripen and dry for the seed.
Leaves, roots, blossoms, seed pods, and seeds for replanting -- I've been able to use every stage of these radish plants. Now that's frugal!
