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An excellent crop for a beginner's garden or as part of a kid's gardening project, the radish is quick and easy to grow.

An early spring vegetable, radishes are usually planted as soon as the soil is warm enough to sow. A few weeks later, radishes are ready for picking.

Rich in vitamin C, folic acid and potassium, radishes are sliced thin to add a pungent crunch to summer salad, or grated fine and added to vinagrettes, or mixed with tea and honey as a curative for colds. Radishes are also carved into "roses" to make a decorative garnish.

As an additional benefit for gardeners, radishes have been known to repel common garden pests away when planted among other flowers & vegetables in the backyard garden.

Popular varieties of the classic red radish include Comet, French Breakfast, Cherry Belle, Red King and Champion, but radishes also grow in shades of purple, rose and white.

On the Web - How to plant & grow radishes :

Watch Your Garden Grow - Radishes - From preparing the soil and planting to the final harvest with more information on recommended varieties, troubleshooting tips, nutritional benefits and related recipes.

Radishes in the Garden - PDF brochure (Adobe Reader required) offering expert tips on soil preparation, sowing, care & maintenance, watering & fertilizing, weeding & harvesting, with a table illustrating common pests & disease and how to control them, related FAQ.

Burpee - All About Radishes - The garden experts with insider information on what makes for a perfect radish patch, including tips on planting, growing and harvesting, recommended varieties, remedies for common pests and diseases, suggested serving and recipe ideas.

How to Grow Radishes - Step-by-step guide from eHow.com with advice on sowing, planting and harvesting plus additional tips on growing winter radishes and radish container gardening.

Radishes - Growing Tips and Health Benefits - Ilustrated feature with tips & tricks to cultivation plus nutritional and medicinal uses including recipes for curative teas, instructions on how to make a radish rose garnish, related links.

Radishes - Good overview with information on radish varieties, nutritional value, and the radish's role in popular culture and lore, from Wikipedia.

Radish - How to Cook and Grow - Brief, though interesting discussion with notes on its history and cultivation as well as its use in American, European and Chinese cuisine.

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