Some radishes questions

I have a lot of radishes right now, never grown them before but they have done extremely well.

They're being eaten of course but there are so many that most are still in the ground.

Now that they have reached their maximum size will they become inedible/less edible if left in the ground for too long? The leaves on some of them are already starting to yellow.

Or should I pull them and store them, and if so how?

I should note that they are the white round ones (a bit smaller than a golf ball) named 'Whitella F1'.

 

They will probably rise to seed soon. You can eat the seed pods too, they are good to eat, radish flavoured and crisp when picked at the right time.

You could pickle them/ferment them, they might even freeze ok if you like cooking with them instead of a salad, I've not tried that though

 

Thanks, so if I leave them in the ground will they become less edible?

 

They will be edible but from memory become gradually more woody and dull in flavour. If you have so many, leave some and see how long before they last before the flavour, texture becomes too poor. As @Hanglow says the seed pods are lovely, in fact I almost prefer them to the radishes. The flowers are very popular with pollinators too so unless you need the space, I would leave them to flower.

 

Pull some , wash them and remove the tops. They will keep reasonably well in a close lidded box in the fridge, a week at least, maybe more. A piece of kitchen paper in the box will stop too much condensation damp from spoiling them.

 

Thanks folks. :-)

 

We have been sowing in succession and the radishes have been brilliant. However harvested some today and one of them, not too big at all, was already woody with the leaves still being green. Agree with others about keeping them for a short while and also making pickles/chutneys. Haven't tried freezing them.