Horseradish experiment

Inspired by a speaker from the Homestead Conference who talked about perennial vegetables, I decided to try growing my own horseradish. I am the only one who likes the stuff, and even I can only use a pinch at a time, it’s so potent. But it’s a fun little experiment.

You start with a root and end with a root. The speaker had warned that horseradish roots will take over wherever you plant them, so I planted two roots in a garden barrel on June 29th and waited. And watered. And waited.

On July 11th I saw my first greenery emerge. I was so excited!

Sadly, my excitement was short-lived. Despite (what I thought was adequate) watering, those initial seedlings dried up, and I was back to square one.

However, a week later a new set of leaves appeared on the other side of the barrel, and they are still looking good. I have no idea how long I need to wait before checking out the root(s), and even then I have no idea how exactly to harvest some. But for now we will just enjoy the show (and keep manually watering, since the barrels are not tied into the irrigation.)