Raphanus sativus Seeds | French Breakfast Radish
LATIN NAME: Raphanus sativus
COMMON NAME: French Breakfast Radish, Radish
Plant Profile
French Breakfast Radish (Raphanus sativus) is a fast-growing, upright, annual in the mustard family (Brassicaceae), native to warm regions of Asia, while it has been grown in kitchen gardens for a very long time. The French Breakfast radish is one of fastest-growing and most satisfying of kitchen vegetables, and its crisp, peppery roots and its quick maturity have made it a favourite of vegetable gardens and window boxes across the world. Plants that offer this much while asking this little are rare enough to treasure.
Science & Biotechnology
Botanists studying the mustard family regularly include Raphanus sativus in comparative work, and the species also appears in horticultural trials aimed at gardeners and growers. Radish has a real and distinguished place in research. The practical point for growers is that this plant has been observed in gardens for so long that its behaviour holds few surprises.
Uses & Benefits
Beyond its ornamental appeal, French Breakfast Radish has the practical versatility that makes a plant worth growing from seed year after year. Radish is a fast-growing annual of kitchen garden and vegetable patch, bearing crisp, peppery roots and clusters of white, four-petalled flowers. Its flowers feed bees and beneficial insects if left to run to seed, and its quick growth makes it a useful catch crop between slower vegetables, while its deep taproot helps to break up compacted soil. To raise radish, sow seeds in pots of moist, rich soil in a sunny, bright place, keep them gently watered, and grow little plants on in the sun. After the first season it asks for very little beyond a place that suits it.
Radish is a digestive food-herb of East Asia, its seed, Lai Fu Zi, a classical Chinese herb for food stagnation and phlegm; daikon is famed as the enzyme-rich accompaniment to fried foods.
Growing from Seed
Sow fresh seed of French Breakfast Radish under ordinary good conditions. Fill a pot with a light seed compost, sow evenly on the surface, cover thinly and stand it somewhere warm, bright and evenly moist. The seed responds well to a cool, moist stratification period, which helps it break dormancy evenly. Pot the young plants on as they grow, harden them off gradually, and plant them into their final positions when sturdy.
Our Take
French Breakfast Radish repays a little patience at sowing time with plenty of garden presence later.
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