Fodder radish

Value to bees

Nectar

High

Pollen

High

As a honey crop

Minor honey crop — a surplus only locally or occasionally

Which bees, and why

Its value is timing. Arable landscapes offer very little in September and October, and a cover crop left to flower rather than incorporated makes a real difference to colonies going into winter.

Open four-petalled crucifers with a short tube, accessible to almost every bee.

Worth knowing

A generous late nectar and pollen source in arable country where autumn forage is otherwise nearly absent.

Flowering

In flower

August to November (northern hemisphere)

A late-season flow, running until the first hard frost.

Growing it

Conditions

Full sun on almost any soil. Fast-growing and undemanding, and it grows a deep taproot that breaks up compaction.

Size

60-120 cm tall.

Native range

A cultivated form of Asian origin, grown worldwide as a cover crop and vegetable.

Suits

Farm scale, Large gardens, Meadow or wildflower area

• Sow after harvest in late summer; it germinates fast and covers the ground quickly.
• Let it flower before incorporating — the standard advice to dig it in early removes the entire pollinator benefit.
• The deep taproot breaks up compacted subsoil, which is the agronomic reason it is grown.

What it looks like

A tall branching annual with rough lobed leaves and loose heads of four-petalled white or pale lilac flowers, followed by fat corky seedpods.