Crop type: Radishes
Raphanus sativus ‘Scarlet Globe’ AGM
Common name: Radish ‘Scarlet Globe’
Crop slug: radishes
This Allotment Pro editorial draft summarises the cited RHS cultivar profile and its linked crop guidance. Check the sources and adjust cultivation decisions for local conditions.RHS cultivar profile
1 - Overview
‘Scarlet Globe’ is an accepted AGM salad radish with a classic quick-growing form. It produces rounded roots with smooth scarlet-red skin and crisp white flesh. Harvested young, the flavour is mild and the texture succulent rather than hot or woody.
The leafy tops are about 15cm high and usable roots can be ready around four weeks after sowing. This speed makes the cultivar ideal for successional rows, containers, gap filling and marking slower-germinating crops.
2 - Size
- Ultimate height
- 0.1–0.5 metre
- Edible-stage foliage height
- about 15cm
- Ultimate spread
- 0.1–0.5 metre
- Time to ultimate maturity
- one to two years if allowed to complete its life cycle
- Root
- small, round and scarlet red
For eating, harvest in the first season when roots are young and roughly 2.5cm across. Plants left to flower may reach about 90cm, but this is not the normal salad-crop stage.
3 - Growing conditions
- Suitable soils
- Chalk, clay, loam or sand
- Moisture
- Moist but well drained
- Preferred pH
- Acid, neutral or alkaline; ideally near neutral
Use light, rich, finely prepared soil that holds moisture while draining freely. Steady water supports rapid swelling and prevents splitting. Avoid crowding and prolonged drought, both of which reduce root quality.
4 - Position and hardiness
- Light
- Full sun or partial shade
- Aspect
- East-, south- or west-facing
- Exposure
- Exposed or sheltered
- Hardiness
- H2
Full light is best in mild conditions, while light shade helps summer sowings remain cool. H2 plants tolerate low temperatures above freezing, but succession and seasonal sowing are more useful than attempting to overwinter salad roots.
5 - Colour and seasonal interest
At harvest stage, a low tuft of lobed dark-green leaves sits above a perfectly rounded, smooth, vivid scarlet-red root with a fine taproot. A cut root reveals uniformly crisp white flesh. The illustration should exclude a white tip, purple or black skin, elongation and flower stems so it cannot be confused with French Breakfast, Amethyst or winter radishes.
If left as a cover crop or for seed, mature plants may bear white or pale-lilac four-petalled flowers that provide nectar and pollen for bees.
6 - Botanical details
- Family
- Brassicaceae
- Native to Great Britain and Ireland
- No
- Foliage
- Deciduous
- Habit
- Bushy
- Name status
- Accepted
- Award
- RHS Award of Garden Merit
Genus
Raphanus includes annual, biennial and perennial herbaceous plants with lyrate or glaucous leaves, small four-petalled flowers and indehiscent fruits. Edible species are cultivated as annual radish vegetables.
Safety
Roots and young leaves are edible. Wash them thoroughly and harvest promptly while the roots remain crisp and sound.
7 - How to grow
Cultivation
Sow seed at frequent intervals from early spring to late summer for a continuous crop. Make rows 15cm apart, sow 1–2cm deep and space or thin seedlings to about 3cm. In hot weather, use light shade and keep the ground consistently moist.
Harvest young, often around four weeks after germination, when roots are rounded and mildly flavoured. Do not leave mature roots in the soil, where they become oversized, pithy, woody and increasingly hot.
Propagation
Propagate by seed sown directly 1–2cm deep from early spring to late summer.
Suggested locations
- Allotment row or gap crop
- Patio container
- City or courtyard garden
- Cottage or informal garden
- Flower-border edging
Pruning
No pruning is required. Remove premature flowering plants from an edible-root crop.
Pests
May be susceptible to flea beetles, slugs and snails and cabbage root fly. Protect seedlings and consider fine mesh where root fly is active.
Diseases
May be susceptible to brassica downy mildew, brassica white blister, club root, damping off, fungal leaf spot and virus diseases. Avoid overcrowding and rotate brassica crops.