Daikon may not be the first vegetable you think of when it comes to gardening - nor even the first radish variety for that matter. There are, however, some great reasons to grow this distinct jumbo radish in your garden.

Let's look at some of the benefits to growing daikon and then we'll jump into the specifics on how exactly to grow it.

Why Grow Daikon Radish?

Garden Benefits

Breaking Up Compacted Soils

Suppressing Weeds

Daikon as a Pollinator Magnet

When daikon flowers, it puts out an enormous display of beautiful white pollinator magnets. While radishes are generally thought of as a small crop that you can cram in anywhere there's a little space, when they flower they transform into some real showy beasts!

Once you decide to let your daikon bolt, that's where the real fun begins. You'll soon have a towering shrub replete with zillions of tiny white flowers abuzz with bees and butterflies. It's really a sight to behold if you've never let a radish flower before, and the pollinators go absolutely wild for it!

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Culinary Uses

Tasty Daikon Roots

Edible Flowers

Edible Seed Pods

A lot of gardeners are quite surprised when they learn that radish pods are edible. Many wouldn't even recognize a flowering radish, and I was utterly shocked the first time one of my daikons flowered and produced seed pods.

As it turns out, radishes produces a LOT of seed pods, and daikon produce more than almost any other variety of radish. So many pods, in fact, that you'll get far more food from a single radish as pods than you will as a root veggie.

Off a single daikon plant, I can collect as many as 2 or 3 gallons of pods!

Health Benefits

Saving Daikon Seed

What Conditions Does Daikon Grow Best In?

Daikon Temperature Range

Soil Type & Drainage

Water Requirements

Nutrient Requirements

Fermenting Daikon

Roots

Pods