Fabulous Fennel
From the garden
Annie Reeve, Woodend Permaculture Garden
Fennel: one of our favourite vegetables, but a bit tricky to grow. The herb fennel is grown as a perennial, cut down over Winter to come back in Spring, flowering in Summer for insects and seeding heavily in Autumn for the birds. Bulbing fennel is technically the same plant but with selection through cultivation to develop fleshier leaf stems for use as a vegetable. Fennel is photoperiodic (its cycle is linked to nightime period fluctuations) because of this there is a tendency for it to bolt if sown before Christmas (new varieties are less susceptible). It is therefore most easily grown from seed sown in Summer in semishaded/misted areas for Autumn to Spring eating. It may be grown as a perennial as the ones in the photographs have, but the ´bulbs´ will never be quite as fleshy if grown this way. Growing it as an annual also reduces the size of the taproot and therefore improves your ability to remove it. Having said that I remember reading that you can make a drink from the root, I must try and find that instruction... Fennel grows a very large tap-root and does not always transplant easily, it grows best in the milder seasons and requires sufficient water to discourage bolting.
To the table
Lucy Campbell, Veg Action
I’ve never grown fennel, and usually forget to buy it but when I remember to I’m always glad. When roasting it in a tray of vegetables it lifts the flavours with it’s quirky aniseed tang; it is the point of difference amongst the standard veg fare in the tray. It’s also delicious in a plant-based soup as an alternative to leek, like in this Fennel and Potato Soup.
And it’s so refreshing in a salad, raw and thinly sliced, like in this very easy recipe with peanuts. And this roasted fennel, chickpea and kale salad I saw on the Eat More Veg Facebook page looks delicious too.
Other plants to harvest in October
New season spring onions, chard, lettuce, spinach, broad beans and peas. (Perennial crops) asparagus, artichokes, rhubarb, mint, tarragon, thyme, regano, lovage, salad burnet and parsley. (Flowers) pinks, roses, marigolds, violets.