I have collected and replanted my own radish seed for about the last 15 years, man what a pain in the butt to separate the seed from the pods. I did some test germination a month ago in the house and compared the sprouting of the seed shelled and still in the shell. The shell actually
water logs well and helps to germinate the seed, though it does take a little longer to see the sprout emerge. I decided to do some tests this year and see if I can plant the radish seed in pod form and see how well it does. I have always had
volunteer radish plants from the missed seed pods in the past so it certainly works to at least some extent.
I went out into my lower north eastern
hay field where there is about 30 yards of topsoil that has been sitting there for around 30 years. I thought it would give me a good little test area and I could see what quality that soil is at the same time. Not great soil but not half bad, if mix it with some forest soil and needles it
should make a pretty good soil, might have to haul the trailer out there and get a few loads. As I dig down the mound and put it on the trailer I can extend my little makeshift garden area there.
Here is the start of things as of about 2 PM this afternoon.
This after digging it out and leveling off a 6 by 20 foot area to plant on.. You can see my helper busy "helping" me...
Then I hand crunched up seed and tossed it out over the area... All the while watching and listening to the five geese standing on the ice on my
pond just a ways away thinking this would be a great food source for them for a few days... lol...
After I threw out the seed pods I covered them a light layer of loose soil and then I raked up some loose grass and covered over the soil a bit. I will go out tomorrow and throw a little more mulch cover over the top to help protect against the geese. We only have five geese right now, but once they all get back we will have around 15 to 20 of them running around here.
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