Radish - juicy, fragrant, slightly spicy root vegetable. With a meager caloric content of 19 kcal / 100g contains a lot of nutrients: vitamins, minerals, trace elements, fiber, volatile production, mustard oil, essential oils. Radish improves intestinal peristalsis, reduces the level of harmful cholesterol, activates metabolism, increases the elasticity of blood vessel walls, and its cultivation is possible even on a windowsill.
Radish, chopped for salad, influencing with oxygen, oxidizes and loses vitamins, so it is better to eat whole root vegetable. Is it possible to grow tasty and healthy radishes at home or in an apartment almost all year round?
- Radish on the window sill root crop is very easy to plant and grow at home on the windowsill or on the balcony during the autumn-winter season. It should only follow a few simple rules, and after two or three weeks after planting seeds, you can replenish your diet with juicy, crispy radish. First you need to stock up with all the necessary materials: a container for planting, ready-made soil composition or simply fertilized with garden, seeds.
Determine a place for a home bed. Beforehand we will make a reservation, it should be sufficiently lit and before the seedlings emerge warm .When the seedlings begin to grow, the temperature needs to be changed, transfer the radish to a cooler place.
A place for radish should be warm and lit The best varieties of radishes for growing at home
Seed preparation is perhaps the most important step. Early early ripening varieties of radish that are not very demanding to growing conditions are best suited for growing on a windowsill:
- variety "16 days" - the name speaks for itself, ripening occurs in 16 days, bright red fruits with tender juicy flesh, resistantto cracking and bolting;
- "Heat" - ripening period of 18-20 days, smooth, round root crop of red and crimson color, with white and pink dense, juicy pulp;
- Presto - ripens in 16 days, very juicy, does not crack, does not chase the shooter;
- “French Breakfast” - time of ripening 21-23 days, red-crimson fruits with a white tip, cylindrical roots 6-8 cm long( it is important to take into account the size of the radish for the selection of containers), excellent taste;
- "Champion" - ripening period of 18-25 days after germination, the root crop is large, slightly oval in shape, resistant to marksmanship and the main diseases of radish.
16 days 
Heat 
Presto 
French breakfast 
Champion radish varieties Carmen, Celeste, Sachs, Ruby have also proven themselves. You can simultaneously grow 2-3 varieties with different ripening periods, for a long time providing a table with fresh, useful fruit.
Preparation for landing.
. Preparation for landing does not take much time, but it involves several steps. About something you need to take care in advance, other preparations are carried out immediately before landing.
Tara
- Radish can be grown in wooden boxes with pallets prepared in advance. Their width should correspond to the width of the window sill, height - about 15 cm. Cover the ground by no more than 2/3, leave a few centimeters for possible filling later.
- Plastic containers with drainage holes and a cell size of at least 5x5cm.
- plastic cups are also suitable as a container if you have to make drainage holes on your own and place them on pallets.
Soil
For a good harvest, you need to try to pick a good soil.
For the cultivation of radish at home, suitable soil from a cottage or kitchen garden The simplest thing is to buy ready-made mixture in the store, but you can make a good fertile mixture of several components:
- soil from a garden or a garden plot, 2-3 year humus( radishes do not likefresh humus), sand - all in equal quantities;
- land( one bucket), a glass of ash, ½ crushed egg shell;
- 50% land, 50% peat.
Containers and cups should be filled with earth, leaving 1-2 cm free from the edge of the container.
Few mineral fertilizers can be added to the substrates to increase yields and more rapid growth of the shoots. The package usually indicates the composition and amount that must be added to the soil for a certain type of vegetables and root crops.
Seeds
Having decided on the choice of variety, you need to prepare the seeds. Pour them on a platter or tray and inspect. All grains should be approximately of the same size, brown, and odorless .Too small seeds, irregularly shaped, gray discarded.
Radish seeds should be uniform brown Before planting, it is very useful to soak healthy grains in a solution of potassium permanganate for a couple of hours - the radish will grow better and be less sore.Sowing radish
When everything is prepared for planting, the ground needs to be slightly moistened with water, with a diving stick make recesses - one in each cell or cup, and in a box at a distance of 5x5 or 6x6 cm from each other, 1.5-2 cm deep.
Insert one seed of into each of them( this is convenient to do with tweezers).Fill the grooves with the substrate, moisten it again with water( it is best to spray it with a spray bottle) so that the soil is slightly compacted.
Then the container is covered with glass or cling film( polyethylene), and put in a warm place with a temperature of 18-20 degrees before germination.
When shoots appear( approximately 6-8 days, depending on the variety), the film is removed and the seedlings are transferred for 3-4 days to a cool place with t about 8 degrees for quenching .Then again return more comfortable place.
Care for the “bed on the windowsill”
Radish does not like the heat, the temperature should not exceed 15 degrees First of all, we must remember that the radish does not like the heat.If possible, it is better to keep the plants on the balcony so that the temperature of the does not exceed 15 degrees or in a well-lit room, but away from the batteries. If there is too much heat, the plant will form incorrectly - luxurious greens without root crops.
The illumination should be sufficient, the daylight hours will have to be with an lamp. With a long light day radish get juicy, with dense pulp.
The plant loves moisture, so you can not overdry the soil. But it is not recommended to moisturize too, it is better to water often, but little by little.
It is not necessary to conduct dressing if the soil composition is well selected. The radish develops and ripens very quickly, managing to take all the necessary substances from the soil.
No more than 20 days, without much trouble on the balcony or windowsill, an ecologically clean crop of tasty radishes will grow, rich in vitamins and minerals. You will please your family and surprise your friends with a fresh root vegetable on your table.
