Hello Mid-Ohio Valley Farmers and Gardeners! Harvest has begun around the valley with tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and sweet corn. Many backyard gardeners are out there preserving the harvest by freezing, canning and drying vegetables and fruits. Peach season has begun and home canners will be busy preserving the harvest. Select quality fruit that is free of disease and bruising. Peaches can be preserved for use later by either freezing or canning.

According to Michigan State Extension, to preserve peaches in a boiling water bath start by dipping the fruit in boiling water for 30-60 seconds, until the skins loosen. Dip the peaches quickly in cold water to slip off the skins. Cut the peaches and remove the pits. Place the cut fruit in an ascorbic acid solution to prevent darkening. Prepare and boil a syrup solution or white grape juice solution for packing.

For a hot pack, place drained fruit in syrup or juice and bring to a boil. Fill the jars with hot fruit and cooking liquid, leaving a half-inch of headspace. For a raw pack, fill jars with raw fruit and add the hot syrup or juice, leaving a half-inch of headspace as well. Process in a boiling water bath canner. If you did a hot pack, process pints for 20 minutes and quarts for 25 minutes. For a raw pack, process pints for 25 minutes and quarts for 30 minutes.

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Radishes are not only for the garden anymore. There are several types of radishes, and over the past decade tillage or daikon type radishes have become popular for uses as a cover crop. They are actually one of the hottest topics in farming for improving the soil. They are members of the mustard family (Brassicaceae), which has a long history of use as animal feed as well as cover crops. The forage radish also known as the daikon radish or Japanese radish, has a very large taproot. When they are planted in late summer, the radishes are not harvested but die in the winter, decay, and contribute a nitrogen store for spring planting. The radishes leave root channels so that soil dries and warms up faster in the spring.

These radishes have several valuable functions as a cover crop. The radish is well suited to perform many valuable cover crop functions including providing soil cover, scavenging nutrients, suppressing weeds, and reducing compaction. This crop also is winter killed so there are less residue management challenges associated with many other cover crops. Recent university research has documented the beneficial effects of radish cover crops on soil properties and subsequent crops. The seed industry has responded by ramping up production of radish seed and many new branded products are available.

The characteristic which most farmers and gardeners are interested in is their robust rooting ability. They can be utilized as a biological tool to reduce the effects of soil compaction, hence the nickname “tillage radish.” Radish roots can extend more than three feet deep in 60 days, with the thickened storage portion of the root extending more than 12 inches under favorable growing conditions, Plants with roots more than one inch in diameter normally have a significant portion of the root exposed above ground, often more than 4 inches, even in uncompacted soils.

Maryland researchers found that forage radish roots can penetrate plow pans or other layers of compacted soil better than most other cover crops. The thin lower part of the taproot can grow to a depth of six ft or more during the fall. The thick, fleshy upper part of the taproot grows 12 to 20 inches long and creates vertical holes and zones of weakness that tend to break up surface soil compaction and improve soil tilth.

Forage radish has a very flexible and aggressive growth habit and will spread out in a rosette to fill the space it is given. Radish plants, especially their fleshy root, will become much larger when grown at lower plant densities. When the cover crop dies in the winter and its roots decompose, the remaining root channels are used by the following crops to penetrate compacted deep soil layers. Research has shown four times as many corn roots penetrated compact subsoil after a forage radish cover crop than after winter fallow, and twice as many as after a rye cover crop.

In West Virginia, forage radishes grow best when planted in late August or early September, but a crop planted as late as October 1 has recovered significant amounts of nitrogen. However, forage radishes planted in late September may be less susceptible to frost and more likely to overwinter. They work well in mixes for gardens and crops since only a few pounds are needed per acre. They fit well into corn silage and vegetable crop rotations that have openings for cover crop planting by the end of August.

There are many radish varieties available specifically for cover cropping including “GroundHog radish”, “Nitro radish,” “Sodbuster,” and “Bio-till” radish. These are large rooted daikon-type oilseed or forage radishes and are similar to the large white daikon radishes traditionally used in Asian cooking. Extension researchers recommend seeding at 8 to 10 pounds per acre using either a conventional or no-till drill or by broadcasting at 12 to 14 pounds per acre to establish a good stand of forage. Gardeners should use ¢ pound per 1000 square feet. When using a drill, seeds are best planted between 0.25 inches and 1 inch deep. When broadcasting, use a cultipacker or do some very light disking to encourage seed to soil contact.

The forage radish is tolerant of frost until temperatures dip below 25°F. It takes several nights of temperatures in the low 20s to finally kill it out. Under the freeze/thaw winter conditions here in the Mid-Ohio Valley, forage radish tissues including shoots and roots decompose rapidly once killed by frost and leave only a thin film of residue. Contact me at the Wood County WVU Extension Office at 304-424-1960 with questions. Good Luck and Happy Gardening!