Fennel

[didireallysaythat]

I've just acquired a fennel - about 30cm tall, strong looking plant. Do I pop it in the ground, leave it alone and then dig it up and harvest later in the year or can they be perennials ?

Depends on the type you have. They don't all grow bulbs. Fennel can grow to about 1m 50 tall, and can be generous in its self-seeding when it likes the conditions. (My mother loved the single bronze fennel I once planted, I am sure...) It is a lovely plant. It doesn't matter that it's perennial, given how it likes spreading it's seed (it is, though.)

I mean, none of them grow bulbs, but they don't all get a bulbous root swelling like you use as a vegetable.

Thanks Ebear - don't suppose you know how to tell what type I have ?

Wait and see?

I'm not sure - I'm not keen on it as a vegetable, so I've never paid that much attention to the root. It looks lovely when it's all young and fluffy leafs, and the flower heads are pretty - and insects love it.

Basically as above, wait and see. It's a tricky veg to grow if it is bulb fennel, but you'll just gett one and it'll only be a foot high and the stem will bulge. If it's herb fennel it'll keep on growing, get about a metre high or taller, die down in the winter and then spring back twice the size. V pretty but seeds everywhere.

Because of the time of year, it's likely to be the leafy kind not the bulb. This means it's perennial, but you only enjoy the foliage and use that in cooking. Bulb fennel is normally sown later because it bolts.

If it doesnt bulb, just leave it to grow and you will have a green fennel that is also a perennial and you can pick the leaves to add fennel taste to your food, and the fennel seeds that can also be used in cooking.

Bronze fennel is tall and feathery and smells gorgeous and the seeds are nice to munch.

It is also a complete thug that will self seed everywhere and form huge, indestructible clumps. Oh yeah, and flies love the flowers.

Apparently, fennel pollen is the new trendy thing. You harvest wild fennel flower heads, turn them upside down in a bag and wait for them to dry. Then use as a flavour enhancer. If it tastes crap, I blame James Wong.

Fennel pollen? As a hayfever sufferer, I can't help feeling sceptical at the thought of that.

This is the beast. Probably not in it's final resting place, but the offer caught me on the hop while making supper...

looks like bog standard herby fennel to me; I am also peering at the plants next to it but I can't quite see them...is this your garden? You look like you have an invasion of ground elder there. Eyesight is tripe today though and I am peering at the pic all squinty like

Gatekeeper it isn't a great photo. It's my middle raised bed in the garden - the elder like things are actually autumn raspberries and there's a rhubarb to the right.

Yep, looks like Foeniculum vulgare, plain ole herby fennel, rather than Florence fennel, which is the stuff where you eat the bulb.

Good news is, this is the kind you can get pollen from... well, it's called 'pollen' but it's really just dried flower bits. Apparently it is the spice of the angels. You'd have to be bloody celestially rich to afford it... look how much it costs on souschef!

www.souschef.co.uk/wild-fennel-pollen-from-calabria.html?origin=product-search&kwd=&source=pla&gclid=CjwKEAjwu6a5BRC53sW0w9677RcSJABoFn4slamGpCj3mZCdA9MQv2DRCW_1-HEh8QZhkZEXtjPXBRoChHzw_wcB

I am SO doing a big ole stand of this when I get my 2nd allotment.

I planted a bronze fennel on my allotment - which I love - but now have lots of bronze fennel and an allotment neighbour who points out the seedlings on his patch with a pained expression.

If it tastes crap, I blame James Wong.

I blame James Wong for lots of garden misunderstandings. Cucamelon - fuck off it is Melothrie.

Doreen I am never going to be able to hear the word 'cucamelon' without mentally adding 'fuck off it is Melothrie' now.

japan - show him the souschef page and tell him you're making his fortune!

Brilliant - thanks everyone. So I should move it otherwise all three beds will end up riddled with the stuff, but if I forget I'll be able to retire on the proceeds of the pollen. Do people really pay that much for dried flower heads ?

I cringe every single time I hear Cucafuckingmelon.

Did - one of the gardens near us grown courgettes just for the flowers, and sells them to restaurants for £1 each. They actually just want the male flowers so all fruits get taken off.