Watermelon radishes

The first day of March, and the weather is cold, heading into another rainstorm. Meanwhile, inside there are a variety of little sprouts growing steadily, waiting for warmer weather ahead.

One of the easiest things to grow is radishes. They grow in any season here in the east bay, and in less than a month you can harvest your crop, which makes them perfect to grow with children.
This year I'm growing watermelon radishes, which are an Asian radish variety, green on the outside and pink on the inside, thus the name. They make a colorful addition to salads, and have a mild flavor.

It's easy to start the seeds inside. One benefit of starting your own seeds is you get to see how the sprouts look. All radishes, despite the variety, look similar as a sprout. Once you have grown them a few times, you'll recognize the sprouts anywhere you see them. When they get their second set of leaves, you can transplant them outside. If you don't have a space to grow them in the ground, you can grow them in a pot, as long as you have at least six inches of soil depth. The plants need to be at least an inch apart, but further than two inches apart is wasting space.

Radish leaves can be eaten if cooked--they would probably taste best stir fried, like a turnip green. I haven't tried them, but they are edible. Having grown radishes, I can recognize the adult leaves anywhere, and notice a number of types of wild radish--some are tiny and grow like weeds among lawns. Others are tall, with beautiful white or pink flowers that develop in the late Spring or early summer. These grow in fields and abandoned lots, and near the ocean. They grow at the Berkeley marina, where I've seen a man pick and eat the pods (seeds). When you grow radishes, you will begin to notice them everywhere, and they will become one of your friends.