Growing Radishes in Western North Carolina
The Southeastern Extension Vegetable Workers (SEVEW) is a group of extension horticulturists, entomologists, plant pathologists, weed scientists, and soil scientists from across the Southeast who write, publish, and edit the Southeastern U.S. Vegetable Crop Handbook. The group comes together every summer to discuss vegetable production, share experiences, problem solve, and update the handbook. In 2017, the horticulturists decided to start a series of regional vegetable trials. The plan is to trial a different vegetable each year in as many locations as the group can handle. We hope to get industry support in the future, but this first year we needed to demonstrate that we could make it happen and that it would be a valuable investment. So we chose radishes as our first test crop. Radishes don’t get much attention, but they are a consumer favorite, especially in direct market venues such as farmers’ markets.
We initiated the radish variety trial in Mills River in March and are just completing the harvests now. To read more about the trial and see photos of the varieties, visit the radish webpage.