I was so disappointed ! I planted horseradish and the leaves grew and I just knew I would be able to go out a dig a whole mess of it up and grate it and put it in little baby food jars and give it to friends and relative for Christmas this year. No. I dug and dug, and all I got were about 5 or so little skinny root type things. I don't know what I did wrong. How are you suppose to grow and harvest horseradish?

Thanks Norah

-- Norah A Johnson (Rockinhorse@knoxy.net), November 08, 2001

Answers

It take me 2 years to be able to harvest any good sized roots,, for roasting, I usually make it a 3 or 4 year root

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), November 08, 2001.

Takes a couple years to get to a good size. We grow ours in the chicken pen(rich soil) . The girls eat the leaves when they come up first but leave them alone when the grass starts to grow and the horse radish then flourishes. Horse radish is very hard to eradicate so make sure you plant it where you can tolerate it cause it's hard to kill. good luck

-- Tomas (bakerzee@hotmail.com), November 08, 2001.

Norah, don't give up on your horseradish. We planted ours about 15 years ago. As I remember, it took 2 or 3 years to get the big roots. My husband makes the horseradish sauce. We like the greens too. Pick them before they get too big. Cook them in boiling water like you would spinach. I add some onion and bacon bits and a splash of vinegar. Good.

-- Jeanne (jcd51@webtv.net), November 08, 2001.

I dig mine every year. I get roots about the size of carrots and they are not real woody. I have a row about 60 foot long and I dig them and cut off the crown and drop them back in the row for next year. I grate them and then put them through a blender with just a little vinegar. Of course I do all of this outside.

-- Mel Kelly (melkelly@webtv.net), November 09, 2001.