Growing Winter and Mooli Radishes

Summer radishes are the little red ones you pull in four weeks. Winter and mooli (daikon) radishes are a different beast entirely — bigger, slower, hardier, and milder. Sow them in late summer and you'll have crisp, substantial roots to pull right through the cold months when little else is ready.

Winter and mooli radishes vs summer types

If you've only grown the quick salad radishes, these will surprise you. The key differences:

• Size. Winter radishes (like 'Black Spanish Round' or 'China Rose') swell to the size of a small turnip. Mooli — the long white Asian type, also sold as daikon — can reach 30cm or more.
• Speed. They take 8–10 weeks rather than 4, so they need a longer, settled run of growing time.
• Hardiness. They shrug off frost. A summer radish bolts and turns woody in heat; a winter radish is built for the cold and stands happily in the ground.
• Flavour. The flesh is milder and less peppery, good grated raw, sliced into stir-fries, or pickled.

Because they're slower and stand through winter, they're a genuinely useful "hungry gap" crop — alongside winter salad leaves and hardy kale, they keep something fresh coming out of the plot when summer is a memory.

When and how to sow

Timing is the one thing to get right. Sow too early and the long days push them to flower (bolting) instead of bulking up; sow too late and they won't have grown enough before the light fails. Mid-July to early September is the sweet spot across most of the UK — nudge towards the earlier end in the north, later in the milder south.

Sow direct, where they're to grow — these big roots don't transplant well:

1. Rake the soil to a fine tilth and water the drill if it's dry. They like an open, sunny spot and soil that isn't freshly manured (it forks the roots).
2. Sow thinly, about 1cm deep, in rows 25–30cm apart.
3. Once seedlings are up, thin ruthlessly. Crowded roots stay small. Allow 15cm between winter radishes and 20–25cm between mooli to give those big roots room.

Check exact sowing windows for your area with the planting calendar. If you're short of beds in late summer, they slot in nicely after early peas or broad beans come out.

Growing on and harvesting through autumn and winter

There's not much to do once they're up and thinned. Keep them watered in any dry late-summer spells so the roots swell steadily and don't turn woody, and hoe off weeds. Net against pigeons if they're a problem, as with other brassicas.

Start pulling winter radishes from October, once they've sized up. The beauty of them is that you don't have to harvest all at once — they hold in the ground in good condition for weeks, so just lift them as you need them.

Don't let them sit too long once the days start lengthening again in late winter, or they'll bolt and the flesh turns spongy. Use them up by February or so.

Storing

Winter radishes store well — better than almost any other radish. Lift the roots on a dry day, twist or cut off the leafy tops (leave about 2cm of stalk), and don't wash them. Pack them in boxes of just-damp sand or old compost in a cool, frost-free shed or garage. Kept like this they'll stay firm and crisp for two to three months.

They also pickle beautifully — quick-pickled mooli is a fridge staple — which is a tidy way to use a glut.

For the full picture on every type, from quick salad varieties to these hardy giants, head back to the main radish growing guide. And if you want to keep the kitchen supplied right through the cold months, pair these with winter salad leaves and a few pots of winter-hardy spinach.