BY ZACH MORTICE
Tillage radish is similar in shape, size, taste, and color to daikon radish. Image courtesy of MVVA.
Oilseed radish, or Raphanus sativus, goes by the name ?tillage radish,? ?radish ripper,? ?fracking radish,? and the comic book-worthy ?turbo radish.? It can reach its two-inch-wide taproots down six feet, breaking up compacted soil and rebalancing nutrient levels, and is commonly put to work as a cover crop in agricultural fields. But the designers at Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA) found another, more high-profile use for them: to remediate the soil during the renovation of the Gateway Arch grounds in St. Louis, one of the largest and most important landscape revamp projects in the nation. This reimagining of Dan Kiley?s mid-20th-century landscape is using an unprecedented application of soil-remediating vegetation into this sort of sensitive and historic National Park Service property, says Adrienne Heflich, an MVVA senior project manager. It?s one sort of drilling operating that, even though it?s in a national park, is entirely welcome.
MVVA?s plan makes the park more flexibly programmed, better connected to the surrounding city, and sets out a plan for more sustainable landscape maintenance practices. Nearing final completion after seven years, the project will celebrate the opening of its North Gateway section on April 8.
Radishes grow in the shadow of Eero Saarinen’s Gateway Arch in St. Louis. Image courtesy of MVVA.
The radishes were pl...