Sorry I can't help, roostershooter. When I want fresh horseradish I just go to an old farmsite nearby, where it's been living for super long. It has spread quite a bit, from both root and seed, so I just dig up what I want.
Connie

The only horseradish that I have in my garden is the ornamental kind, that's one condiment I don't care for, ewwwwwwww ;)

I've never harvested horseradish myself, but my mom says that to get more horseradish plants, all you have to do it throw the peelings out in the garden and they'll grow.;^) I don't know if you should harvest any this year or not. You probably should get the patch established a bit more if you want it to come back year after year.

Hey Sharon, is your ornamental horseradish the variagated kind?

I am not too familiar with harvesting, but my Mom had some at the lake and once it gets bigger I think you can just dig up some root from the outer edge. The key is to let it get bigger and wider I think, since the root is sort of a rhizome that spreads outward. It sort of sounds like the type of perennial that grows anywhere and you'll have for life. My Mom's grew by a telephone pole in a low spot surrounded by grass, very clay soil and soggy during wet spells.

Interested too if Sharon has the variegated kind? Shauna (luv2gro) had a posting last year stating she was considering planting the variegated horseradish by the driveway strictly for the variegated leaves. Just wondering if the variegated one is actually as nice as the pictures show.

My Mom and Grandmother ground up horseradish and mixed it with mashed beets, canned it in jars. It's used on ham (at Easter) or roast beef at other times. The beets cut down the "hotness" though of course that varies depending on the ratio of horseradish to beets. It's great to eat if you have a cold and are stuffed up.

Glen

Mmm HR with beets sounds good Glen. Sharon does have variegated HR, I remember the post. My mom's neighbour told me there is a trick to making it hotter or milder, it's something to do with how long you store the root after you dig it up, before you grate and pickle it. I will see if I can find out more.

Yup, mine is the variegated kind. Its just starting to bloom right now.

Here is a photo from 2005.

Sharon

That is so cool looking Sharon! Does the root spread like the regular horseradish? And how tall does it get?

No, it doesn't spread like the regular HR. Its about the same size of clump and I think I bought this in 2003.

It's about 3' when flowering.

i dig it up an cut the top off an replantit. it has worked for me for 10 years doing it that way. we grind it up an mix it with a little vinegar an salt. an just a bit of water.

I've had horseradish growing in my yard for about seven years.
After a few drinks, I build the courage to dig some roots, and make a few jars of HR sauce. The fumes will fill the kitchen, and make onion cutting seem like childs play. Oh, the pain I go through, just for something to add to my roast beef, and cornbeef...but it must be worth it, as I go through this a couple times a year.
Need some root cuttings? I need some fig tree cuttings.

LOL..do you wear a gas mask?
No, I don't want any, got rid of mine many years ago with roundup, got scared it will take over the garden after my tiller touched the sides one year and I spread it.
I might grow it again when I know how to control it, will a open end buried plastic barrel do it? I know someone who grew it in a concrete tank.

Mine tried to take over the lawn, and I panicked, and started digging it up; using Roundup, among other poisons, trying to get it back under control, and then I found out, that, if you just ignore it, and mow it along with the grass, it blends in, and you don't see it.
At my home in Mexico, I wanted bamboo, and read all the horror stories about it, turning your property into a tropical jungle. So, I dug a long trench, about four feet wide, and about the same deep, and lined the hole with five bucks worth of heavy construction plastic, and haven't had any problems for five years now.
I have four different kinds of bamboo, from ten feet to forty feet. Beautiful...worth all the trouble.