How to Get Radishes to Flower

Radishes are plants that most gardeners grow for their edible root structures. They are planted in the spring or summer and harvested in the summer or fall, depending on the variety. If you'd rather grow radishes for their flowers -- which are typically pink or purple, small and delicate -- you must forgo harvesting them. The radishes will then use up the stored-up energy in their edible root structures and flower instead, but not until the second year.

Tiller
Organic matter
Garden hose

Instructions

- 1
  Plant radishes from seed in the spring as soon as you can dig and till the soil. Till the soil -- in an area with full sun -- about 8 inches deep and work in approximately 3 inches of peat moss, compost or another type of organic matter. Plant seeds 1/4 inch deep, spaced 1 inch apart. Water them in with 1/2 inch of water.
- 2
  Thin seedlings to one every 4 inches. Continue to keep the soil moist and the garden weed free. Let the radish tops die back to the ground in the fall. The roots are still alive.
- 3
  Begin to water the radishes and keep the garden weed free the next spring when they start to grow again. They will bloom the second summer. Since radishes are biennials, they will die after the weather cools.

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