How To Grow Radishes in Containers & Grow Bags

If you're looking for a fast-growing, easy-to-grow vegetable to add to your small space garden, look no further than the radish. Radishes are one of the best crops to grow in containers and grow bags, and they can be ready for harvest in just a few weeks. In this post, we'll show you how to grow radishes in containers and grow bags, so you can enjoy this healthy veggie all season long. Let's get started!

Tip 1: Get a Planting Guide to Know When To Direct Sow Your Radishes

When you start your radishes will be dependent on where you live. Mind & Soil's home base is in BC, Canada in Zone 7B. This means I can start in February (as long as they’re covered) and continue growing them into October (again, as long as they’re covered). How do you figure out when you can start them? Find a handy planting guide!

• British Columbia
• Prairies
• Ontario
• Maritimes
• Far North

United States

• Washington State
• Oregon
• Far North
• New England
• New York State
• Pennsylvania

Pro tip: some radish varieties are great succession crops. This is because they have a short seed-to-harvest time, between 40-50 days. If you’ve harvested in August and feel like going one more round then radishes are a great option for you!

Radishes Days to Harvest in our Succession Planting Guide

Tip 2: Decide Between Using a Container vs. a Grow Bag

Okay, you know when to plant your radishes. Check that off the to-do list. Next up - figure out what type of container to use. There are many different types of containers however we’re going to focus on garden boxes vs. grow bags.

Grow Bags

I won’t lie - I’m a big fan of grow bags and that’s because of their versatility. As a small-space gardener myself I want to get the most out of my garden space. Grow bags allow me to do that. Let me explain what I mean by getting the most out of every inch. What I don’t mean is to pack your space with grow bags. What I actually mean is to use grow bags to move the plants you have to where the sun is during the day.

I’ve lived in many apartments as well as one townhome and all had different small spaces. The biggest difference I had to account for was where the sun traveled throughout the day. Grow bags allowed me to move my plants to where the sun was, which was a big bonus, especially as I was learning my space after moving. This allowed me to ensure my plants were getting the proper amount of sunlight. If you’re starting out in a new space then I recommend using a grow bag for your radishes. You’ll be able to move them around as you get to know your gardening space.

Garden Box

Surprise twist: I’m a big fan of garden boxes as well! I’ve actually used both grow bags and garden boxes in my small spaces, so when to use garden boxes? When I know exactly where the sunlight travels throughout the day and which areas of my space get enough sunlight (6-8 hours). That’s when I’ll set up a “permanent structure” like a garden box.

Pro tip: You can use a garden box while learning your space as well, however, it’s a bit more work than a grow bag. I’ve attached wheels (casters from Home Depot) to the bottom of them so I could move the garden box around as the sunlight moved.

To close this section out, if you know your space well enough then put those roots down (pun fully intended) and get yourself a garden box! Your radishes will grow great in a garden box!

Tip 3: Decide Which Soil Mix To Use

Wouldn’t you know it, but we just did a soil experiment using radishes! I’ll put the video right below here if you’d like to check it out.

If you have no time to watch the video then I’ll do a little explainer here. We set up three raised beds and the only difference between them was the soil mixture. We planted many vegetables in each bed with one of them being radishes. We harvested and weighed each batch of radishes to see which soil mixture had the best results. I’ll explain the results below.

Raised Bed #1 Soil Mixture - 100% Compost

We’re a big fan of no dig, no till and so we’ve done a lot of gardening in 100% compost. Personally, I’ve only done 100% compost in my garden boxes and grow bags. Of course I added our worm castings and 4-4-4 superfood soil amender every month or so and I’ve had terrific results.

The result of the 100% compost mixture: 872g

Raised Bed #2 Soil Mixture - 75% Compost + 25% Vermiculite (Container Blend)

The second soil mixture we used is something Jordan has been using for one to two seasons now. It has become his favourite mixture. It has 75% compost + 25% vermiculite. Vermiculite is a mineral that can help hold moisture/water and stimulates root growth. Root growth is important because that’s how the plant takes on nutrients from the soil.

Results of the 75% compost + 25% vermiculite mixture: 1290g

Raised Bed #3 Soil Mixture - Soil Science Blend

The third and final soil mixture we tested was one we created with Ashley, The Soil Scientist. We took a sample of soil and based on what we got back, Ashley gave us a mixture to try out. What we used was 6” of compost and sprinkled on a dusting of elemental sulfur. This was because our soil sample came back with a slightly higher pH level than normal. To lower the pH level in Jordan's soil we added elemental sulphur. Then Jordan tilled the compost and elemental sulphur deep into the ground. The goal here was to mix everything with the sand, silt, and clay creating a nice, uniform mixture.

Which Is The Best Mixture for Radishes?

We had the highest yield from the container blend of 75% compost + 25% vermiculite, so feel free to start there!

The results tell us something else as well though. You can see that we had terrific results from all three soil mixtures. These results bring to light two things we are very passionate about here at Mind & Soil.

First, just get out there and start gardening! It's so easy to get caught up in trying to achieve massive yields. And if that brings you joy then go for it! However, especially for beginners like I was two years ago, things don't need to be more complicated than getting out there. Regardless of what soil mixture you go with you will get wonderful radishes. So pick a soil mixture and get to it!

And the second is to experiment! Try new things. Test your assumptions. You never know what the results will be. Plus you’ll learn something along the way.

So feel free to use the container blend of 75% compost + 25% vermiculite as a starting point. But don’t be afraid to experiment with your gardening space! Using containers allows you to experiment pretty easily because you can try different things with each container or grow bag.

For example, you can try using different soil mixtures, watering timings, sunlight exposure, or harvesting times. The world is your oyster!

Tip 4: Be Flexible On When to Harvest

Speaking of harvesting times, it’s smart to be flexible when you harvest your radishes. The gardening guides will tell you radishes take 40-50 days. But if you watched the soil experiment video you would’ve seen that Jordan harvested the radishes at 47 days. And this was about 7-10 days too late. However, if Jordan harvested 10 days earlier it would've meant they were in the ground for 37 days, which is under the recommended 40. How scandalous!

When starting out I recommend harvesting one radish at a time until the radishes have the taste you want. Then it's time to harvest the whole batch! Given growing times have some variance to them, start harvesting testers a tad earlier than the planting guides recommend. After you've harvested a couple of rounds of radishes you will have a feel for how radishes look when they have the taste you want.

The final tip is to HAVE FUN! Gardening doesn’t have to be about maximum yields all the time. And it certainly shouldn’t be about feeling bad if a harvest doesn’t go according to plan. Experiment to learn more and understand your gardening space. Harvest yields will come, but find ways to enjoy the process!