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#1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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Help me out here, I have never grown fennel before and I bought a pack of bulbing fennel seeds yesterday.
What to expect and what to do would be nice. |
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#2 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: ohio
Posts: 4,350
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it tastes like licorice. give it plenty of room. it reseeds readily. I have grown the bronze and it gets to about 6' tall.
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carolyn k |
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#3 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Vancouver Island
Posts: 5,931
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https://www.growveg.com/guides/how-to-grow-bulb-fennel/ The main thing to remember is that if you want bulbs vs it bolting to bloom it needs to be kept watered and not allowed to dry out. Some varieties are more resistant to bolting. Shade may help in a hot garden. I like to use the feathery leaves like fresh dill also. KarenO |
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#4 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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#5 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Back in da U.P.
Posts: 1,846
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fennel isn't that hard to grow.
getting it to bulb size has always been a problem for me. i get nice stalks, feathery fronds, just not big bulbs. maybe i grew them too close together. keep in mind there are two basic types of fennel. one will form a bulb. the other growth type does not form bulbs. give a little fertilizer, not a lot. swallow tail butterflies really, really like fennel. caterpillars will be almost the same color green as the stalks. you will notice them by their black and yellow spots. i saw that you do not want to save seeds from fennel if you are also growing dill. they can cross pollinate, and give you funny tasting seeds in the event you want to use them in cooking. keith |
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#6 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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I used to pick and eat it wild in California to everyone's dismay.
Got home so late last night I didn't wet the seeds as I should have. Fertilizer requirements if any? |
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#7 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: NewYork 5a
Posts: 2,303
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Reseeds? I'm obviously doing something wrong. Maybe not giving it a chance to reseed.
I have it started indoors with dozens of other oddities right now. I plant in a bed with dill, parsley, par-cel, cumin,...next to my big basil bed. I'll move one to my 'come again' bed with sage and tarragon. (the bed I don't winter cover, just mulch in the Fall and again Spring.) I have a stack of old red cups I no longer use for tomatoes that I cut around their middle, label, push into the bed, then plant with some soaked direct seed as well. I can mulch right up to the red cup edges. (I can get up, spin around, and totally forget what I've just planted minutes before, ![]() ![]() Cilantro is another I just can't crack the code. Grow it all winter indoors but outside it just bolts...even the 'slow bolt' variety. Fortunately it is just 50cents at the market. |
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#8 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Virginia Bch, VA (7b)
Posts: 1,337
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If it’s anything like bronze fennel, I don’t do anything special. Just put it in the soil, and water. I have noticed it’s similar to parsley in the fact that it is slow to germinate. Maybe soaking would help.
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#9 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
Posts: 6,794
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My SIL once made us a salad of arugula with fennel shavings on top.... First time I really liked fennel, the combination of tastes is so perfect.
I have yet to succeed in growing it. I think we need the right kind of year for that, no guarantees of fennel in this climate - although I've seen some nice ones at my friend's farm. |
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#10 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Central Illinois
Posts: 1,836
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A really nice patch of re seeding dill is my goal this season.
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#11 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: north central B.C.
Posts: 2,310
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Karen is right, keep it watered (your drip system should suit it very well). One of life's pleasures in the garden is the liquorice smell of fennel on a hot afternoon...
Watch for aphids, also.
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"He who has a library and a garden wants for nothing." -Cicero |
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#12 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Vancouver Island Canada BC
Posts: 1,253
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#13 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Spain
Posts: 416
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I'm selecting bulbing fennel for being perennial and slow to bolt. There are few easier crops. Note we have wild fennel, so it feels at home.
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#14 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
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Last year I decided on bronze fennel instead of Florence (bulb) and our winter was so mild it’s still growing. I already let cilantro, dill, basil, arugula, nasturtiums and borage seed around the fruit trees so letting fennel go is no big deal. The more the merrier for the pollinators!
I think I’ll start some bulbing fennel too; I have seed to use up. Yes, it’s a bit slow to germinate. Arugula and fennel salad is the best. |
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#15 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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Dill X Fennel = funny tasting.
How funny and what like? Sounds interesting. ![]() |
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