'Bier Garten' Radish

Raphanus sativus

Origin: Germany (presumed)

Improvement status: Landrace

Seeds per packet: ~150

Germination tested 11/2022: 93%

Life cycle: Annual

Nate was given seeds for this interesting radish at a seed swap from someone who either couldn't or wouldn't share any details about it beyond the name. Our friend Clint Freund of Cultivating the Commons in Wisconsin was enticed by the name and decided to do a grow-out for us. What he found was a radish that is similar to 'Muncher Bier' (sometime sold as "German Beer Radish"), but more egg-shaped, and with some roots showing a distinctive slight black russeting on the skin (and a few, less than 4%, demonstrating fully black skin). This diversity suggests a landrace "beer radish" — that is, a radish to be eaten with beer — and the name indicates it's likely from Germany, or perhaps Austria or Switzerland. Roots grow 6 to 10 inches.

A large proportion of Clint's plants set seed in their first year, but enough of the population (roughly half) were clearly biennial so we think it's safe to assume this is a long-storing biennial variety that just needs some selection to "clean it up". Clint didn't save seed from the annual plants, but did leave the black russeted roots in the population to preserve that interesting morphological diversity.