Fennel is a matter of taste as a vegetable due to its intense and herbal taste. You can enjoy the tubers of this plant either raw or cooked. The dried seeds of the fennel can be used in various beauty treatments and healing applications.

The choice of variety depending on the type of use

With fennel, there is a basic distinction between wild fennel, bulbous fennel and spice fennel. The latter is particularly suitable for harvesting the intensely flavored fennel seeds. However, the bulbous fennel also develops its umbel-like inflorescences under suitable conditions.

Spice fennel for teas, masks and ointments

The varieties of the spice fennel tend to have a particularly pronounced bloom. As a result, they also enable a comparatively higher yield of fennel seeds compared to tuber fennel. If you want to grow fennel primarily for using the seeds in beauty masks, herbal mixtures and stomach teas, you should specifically sow fennel.

Tasty side dishes made from thick fennel bulbs

In the case of celeriac, cultivation is geared towards flowering that is as delayed and weak as possible. In this way, the plants in your garden can form thick tubers in a suitable location. These in turn can be cut into pieces and cooked and served as an aromatic side dish.

Bolt-resistant varieties of celeriac

Since the largest possible celeriac bulb is important, flowering of the plants should be prevented as far as possible. This can be done by sowing late in June, but the tubers then only ripen in time before winter in raised beds or in a wine-growing climate. So-called bolt-resistant varieties can also be brought forward in March without tending to flower early in the summer.

The ideal location

Fennel plants grow particularly well in loose and deep soil. The soil should have sufficient nutrients and ideally be in the sun as much as possible. Since the fennel tends to shoot when it is too dry and too hot, it is important to ensure that the bulbous fennel is adequately watered.

Fennel season is determined by location

Overall, the average cultivation time for fennel is about 12 weeks. In particularly mild locations or in raised beds, direct sowing outdoors in June is also possible. The information in the seed instructions should be observed. Otherwise, fennel should preferably be grown at room temperature from March and isolated outdoors from May in order to be ready for harvest in the summer season.

The preculture in the room

Since fennel is sensitive to cold, it should be covered with a protective fleece when sowing directly outdoors in early May. When pre-cultivating indoors, the ideal germination temperature should be between 20 and 22° Celsius. After germination, however, the temperature must be reduced by a maximum of 16° Celsius, otherwise the root neck will become too long and unstable.

tips and tricks

Like all other umbellifers, fennel should only be grown in the same location every three years. Lettuce, cauliflower, radishes and all legumes are suitable as pre-cultures.

Category:

Vegetable garden