- Fennel: properties and origin
- Care for fennel: watering, fertilizing etc.
- Is fennel hardy?
- Propagation
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Fennel comes from the Mediterranean region and can be cultivated as a vegetable and spice plant. You can find out everything about the origin, properties and care of fennel from us.
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) has been used as a medicinal plant for thousands of years. We present the versatile, Mediterranean vegetable and spice plant in the profile and give tips on the care of fennel as well as on overwintering and propagation.
Fennel: properties and origin
Fennel has been a traditional spice and medicinal plant in the Mediterranean region for centuries. The Romans brought it to our latitudes, but initially it was only used occasionally as a medicinal herb and spice. The exact origin of the fennel has not yet been fully clarified. However, it is assumed that it is native to the Mediterranean and the Near East. It is known from tradition that the ancient Greeks used fennel as a spice and especially as a medicinal herb. The aromatic fennel, also known as Köppernickel, Femis or slimming vegetables, was named medicinal plant of the year in 2009. Fennel belongs to the umbelliferae family (Apiaceae) and is closely related to aniseed (Pimpinella anisum), caraway (Carum carvi) and dill ( Anethum graveolens) related.
Fennel basically grows as a biennial to perennial perennial with strongly branched stems to a height of 120 - 200 cm. Sweet fennel remains 50 - 100 cm small in the first year, as it only flowers in the second year, and instead develops scaly and thickened stalks. The fennel root is coarse and reaches very deep into the ground in good locations. The leaves of the fennel are three to four times pinnate and colored green to blue-green. They are harvested and dried as fennel greens. The branched stalks of the fennel herb are framed by a fleshy leaf sheath. The flowering period is between July and September, during which the plant produces numerous, inconspicuous yellow flowering double umbels. Fennel blossoms are preferred by hoverflies(Syrphidae) and bees, as they provide abundant nectar in summer. The initially blue-green seeds that develop after pollination are oblong-round in shape and clearly grooved. They ripen late in the year between September and November, turning brown and eventually dropping off.
Is fennel a vegetable? There are three different varieties of fennel, which are used differently: Wild fennel (Foeniculum vulgare var. vulgare), sweet or common fennel (Foeniculum vulgare var. dulce) and that made from common fennel bulbous or vegetable fennel produced by breeding (Foeniculum vulgare var. azoricum). Due to the return to old varieties, but also due to modern breeding, the variety of fennel varieties is greater today than ever.
Care for fennel: watering, fertilizing etc.
Fennel is a low-maintenance vegetable that requires little attention other than watering in the summer. After planting fennel, only a few actions need to be taken before harvest. The young plants should be weeded regularly to keep the competition for water and nutrients low. A layer of mulch made from plant materials, such as grass clippings, prevents weed growth and also reduces evaporation. However, as the degradation of organic matter binds nitrogen in the soil, compensatory fertilization may be necessary. Fennel is one of the medium consumers, but requires higher amounts of potassium. A potassium-rich, predominantly organic long-term fertilizer such as our Plantura organic tomato fertilizer is ideal for fertilizing fennel. The animal-free granular fertilizer is applied around the fennel when planting early young plants or at the beginning of the tuber formation of directly sown plants and worked into the surface. The nutrients contained are slowly released over the course of the weeks and are gentle on the plant and the environment.
The only relevant pest on fennel is the swallowtail caterpillar (Papilio machaon), one of the largest native butterfly species. However, the damage caused by feeding is limited and will later reward you with the pretty, creamy yellow and blue butterflies in the garden.
Is fennel hardy?
Fennel bulb is not as an adult planthardy, whereas the young plants endure short-term minus temperatures down to - 4 °C. However, since the sweet fennel is only cultivated once a year for its tender sprout bulb, there is usually no overwintering. The tuber fennel plants only have to be overwintered to obtain seeds. Hardy fennel are the wild fennel and the spice fennel, which in our latitudes can easily withstand temperatures below -20 °C.
Propagation
Fennel is propagated from its seeds. In order to obtain fennel seed yourself, you first have to consider whether it is herb fennel or tuber fennel. The latter usually only flowers in the second year and must therefore be overwintered frost-free in order to obtain seeds. To do this, select 10 - 15 he althy, beautiful fennel bulbs for propagation, cut back the leaves to about 20 cm, pot the fennel plants and place them in a cold house or in the winter garden. The humidity should not be too high and the watering must be very economical so that the tubers are not attacked by fungal diseases. The plants are overwintered next spring after the last frost. They then quickly bloom and the fennel seeds reliably ripen by autumn. Spicy fennel, on the other hand, forms numerous inflorescences and seeds in the first year after sowing. In the second year, the harvest is usually significantly larger. Seed heads that are turning brown should be cut off quickly and laid out to dry, because ripe fennel seeds tend to fall off. The seeds of the fennel are viable for about one to two years.
Tip: Sweet fennel, bulbous fennel and wild fennel are closely related, so they can interbreed. Homegrown fennel seeds tend to flower directly instead of forming a large sprout bulb. In order to multiply pure fennel, it is therefore important not to do it with two varieties at the same time in the same garden.
Fennel can be used in a variety of dishes and enriches the kitchen with the aromatic, he althy sprout bulbs. We provide tips on harvesting, storing and using fennel.