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April 6, 2015

Sakurajima Radish - a resilient green for Florida gardens

If you are into organic greens, check out this awesome radish that has tasty edible greens. It is called sakurajima radish. It is grown in Japan for the greens and the root, and it is heat tolerant. In Florida it is very difficult to grow greens in the Summer time. After much experimenting sakurajima radish is one green that I grow throughout the Summer. I did try eating the root, but to my taste it was too tough and too dense. It might be good cooked, or fermented like they do in Japan, but at this point I only care for the greens, which are delicious, and did I mention they grow in the heat?

Here's what the root of the plant looks like (hiding beneath the abundant seed pods):


Once you've grown a few plants, they will provide the seeds for you in excess. In fact, sakurajima will re-seed freely if you let it. After a couple of years I have sakurajima sprouting up on the lawn and in garden beds, sometimes very far from where it originally grew.


And finally, here are the greens. Young greens taste good raw in salads, bigger ones are good stir-fried, boiled, or cooked in any way you like cooked greens. They can be seeded throughout the year, but please select a shaded spot for them to hide from the scorching Summer rays.




3 comments:

  1. Is this the "mammoth" giant radish from Japan, sakurajima radish? According to what I've read, the radish root grows to a foot in diameter. I don't have room in my garden for that, but is that what you are referring to? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, I guess so. I grow it for the greens, so it rarely gets an opportunity to get to a foot in diameter.

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  3. I. March, I was able acquire a packet of these seeds at the Oregon City farmer's market. I passed out 10-packets of seeds/pods at the Canby fruit show acouple months ago. I then learned that the key to success is starting them in Sept. to give them at least 9-months to grow a large root. We'll see!

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