Hello,
Thinking about fennel for 2008 garden. I have read that the bulb must be "hilled" with soil in order for the bulbs to get large. Anyone use a cover over the fennel bulb instead of soil?? Seems to me that using a thick piece of fleece or wool would serve the same purpose and keep the dirt out of the bulb.
Any info on growing fennel for the bulb (not for the seed) is needed. Thanks!!!!!!!!!
DL
Anyone here grow fennel ??
I'll see what I can find out the next time I talk to my friend with the big family garden (more like a little "truck farm!")... She's been growing fennel for several years. I do know that she covers them with dirt, but I don't know how much hilling up she does along the row.
The only fennel I'm growing is Bronze Fennel in the butterfly garden... and I've never even looked at its bulbs! :-)
Hey Guys;Bronze Fennel does not produce a bulb.Florence and Finocchio Fennel produce a bulb.Hilling with soil blanches the bulb.Farther spacing between bulbs and really rich compost will produce the biggest bulbs.
really? no bulb at all? now you've got me wanting to dig one up and check... LOL.
Thanks for explaining about the hilling. That makes sense. My friend does get huge bulbs... but her garden soil is extraordinary. They've been adding compost and grass clippings to that garden for over 30 years, and it was nice soil to start with.
Been growing it for years. Florence fennel that is. I have never had so much as a single "frond" from it. It's a butterfly hotel. Host to the Swallowtail. They lay their larve and feed off the fennel. They smell really pungent too. It keeps the birds from eating them. I hill up the fennel in early April, and keep it like that all summer. This fennel grows to a height of three feet. I bought the plants seven years ago from K-Mart. Money well spent, when you see the emerging butterflies.
Arias ~ which Florence fennel are you growing please? I have been interested in trying some but confuse myself when I start researching fennel. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=florence+fennel&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&search_prefs%5Bblank_cultivar%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search
podster,
Fennel : Foeniculum vulgare.... I bought four of them, and they are gorgeous. Very pronounced licorice odor. They are very hardy, dying back in winter and returning spring. I still have the faded tag that came with them. I dare not move them and just leave them alone. Of all places I found the "four pack" at K Mart.
Hey Guys;If you want large bulbs, you want "Romanesco".Also when you cook bulbing Fennel it looses the licorice taste.Gourmet Seed Int. Sells Florence and their seed packets are European and have over 1,000 seeds per Pkt.and cost 2-3 bucks.
Oh, and when you touch those caterpillars the shoot out 2 bright orange "horns" with an Intense scent!
This message was edited Oct 20, 2007 8:22 PM
I am planting florence fennel for the bulb which I hope to harvest and cook. Do the caterpillars eat the fennel plant and damage it?? I am not planting this for bugs to eat but for humans to eat. Don't get me wrong I love a pretty butterfly but I do not want them if they cause as much trouble as that darn white cabbage butterfly.
Anyone know if I can "blanch" with cloth or cardboard instead of dirt - I grow everything in EarthBox so hilling up might present a problem unless I can use a "dirt alternative" :-))..........
If you do not want the caterpillars eating the fennel what do you spray with?? Same spray as celery?? I mostly use Rotenone and Neem for spraying bugs.
Thanks folks,
DL
I think if I had just one plant, the Black Swallowtail caterpillars might eat it to the ground. Spread between 6 plants, they don't do much damage to the foliage... and they aren't nibbling the bulbs, so they're not pesky in the way that cabbage butterfly cats are. The butterflies might not find your fennel at all the first year, especially in a veggie garden without nectar flowers around to get their attention.
Arias & Zebraman ~ thanks for the recommendations ~ I think I figured out my confusion... I want one of each... oh dear!
DL ~ is is hard to do in EBs but I would do as suggested by planting quite a few and spreading them out.
podster,
Do you have any tips for growing the fennel in EB ?? I can easily spread them out because I have lots of EBs.
DL
I grow 12-15 plants per box,however I use 30 gallon bins from
www.sterilite.com I went with this system as the conventional EB is designed more for chemical fertilizer and I wanted to still use Bio-Dynamics.And I also wanted larger planters.
This message was edited Oct 21, 2007 7:55 PM
Dancinglemons ~ Not I ~ I was asking about types of fennel ~ I want to try some. Zebraman is the EB expert here... 8 )
I have grown Florence fennel more than once and never got a bulb. I had no idea that I had to hill them up to make them bulb. Mine always got planted in the spring after frost then bolted at the summer solstice. I just thought they didn't bulb because our growing season was to short. Will hilling them up keep them from bolting?
Hey Guys; Florence fennel produces a bulb whether you hill or not.Also Fl. fennel s a cool season crop.I grow this in the fall/winter in CA.Today is Hot/sunny,close to 90 degrees.I planted more summer squash about a month ago and it is up and really getting large.I never plant it this late,but Farmers Almanac said we were in for yet another unusually warm winter.
This message was edited Oct 22, 2007 3:20 PM
Guess I need to look for one better suited to the hot and humid southern climate. Thanks for the info.
Arias has success in that area ~ perhaps hilling them up also insulates the fennel from the heat.
It does help to hill them up, and Virginia does get hot. We had a string of 100+ degree days. I think the hilling up kept the fennel cool. Plus I also watered it once a week. A deep, long drink for the fennel. I'm so infatuated with caterpillars that feed on the fennel I never think about eating it. I admit it, I adore butterflies, and I let them do as they please.
Arias does your fennel spread or produce seed?
Produces a seed head . It has spread some, I still have the four original plants, spaced a foot a part. It grows very tall in the summer, has a huge seed head [which the cats devour first]. The cats chew the fronds and stems down to the ground. After a month or so, the fennel puts out new shoots. It begins to grow tall again, and the cats return in late September and mow it down again. The plants are so beautiful, but I made the fennel part of the butterfly garden, so it's for them. But it does spread during the summer months.
I am thinking hilling fennel with dirt would help here, but our growing season is still to short to produce nice bulbs. Still I might give it one more try.
zebraman,
A question for you. Do you have suggestions for making "grow box" ?? I have 2 which are not commercial EB but which I made from 3 gallon container set on top of 5 gallon container and bamboo for watering tube -- hydroponic grow basket is my wicking chamber in the bottom of the 3 gal bucket. I needed a deeper container but did not want to use 2 of the 5 gallon buckets. Currently working on a "grow box" for planting sweet potatoes and regular potatoes.
Do you hill your florence fennel in your EBs ?? I really do not care if they are white bulbs as long as they taste good. Some of my UK friends suggest I use horticultural fleece for the hilling to keep the dirt out.
Let me know what you think. I am doing my prep now for my 2008 garden.
Cheers,
DL
Hey Dancinglemons; First of all I don't hill my Florence Fennel.The bulb will still be mostly white .The only way I use Fl. fennel is cut up and sauteed. With regular potatoes I fill the 'EB' a third full of soil and compost.As the plants grow I add more soil and compost mixed with a mineral compound, Azomite.By the time the plants reach the top I am done with the hilling.This is the place with instructions re-EB's
http://www.seattleoil.com/Flyers/Earthbox.pdf It is a pdf file.I only use the one up to page 12.Also I use the 30 gallon storage bin from Sterylite which I buy locally at a store called "Big Lots".Also after buying the bins,tubing and zip ties(these are called something else) these EB's cost about $12.00 each.
zebraman,
Wow, that is the site where I got my instructions for making my "grow box". I just adapted what I learned there to make my 3/5 gallon bucket growboxes. Thanks for the tip on no hill for the FF. Do you start your FF direct or start in peat pots?? Do you get nice size potatoes in your grow box or just tennis ball size?? I do not want monster spuds but I like a moderate size. Is the 30 gallon the one you use for potatoes? How much potting mix does the 30 gallon take if you are using it for say tomatoes/peppers/eggplants etc, etc, etc..... 4cu ft or more?? Sorry for so many questions but this self-watering container gardening is a project that I am doing many experiments with and I like to learn from those who have done more than I have. Have you tried sweet potatoes?? I grew them in ground years ago but wonder how they adapt in growbox.
Any and all help/info you can offer is GREATLY appreciated!!
DL
Hey Dancinglemons; I direct seed(fennel) as they don't transplant well.
I get larger potatoes with fewer plants and using Azomite.
The 30 gallon bin takes 2 1.5 cubic ft bags of compost and about another cubic ft of soil.
This is actually the first year for using EB's.Up until now I used Large plastic and wooden boxes 4 ft by 8 ft bins (2x12's) double height.Beds are basically 24" deep.I still have 1 of these left and I used this for Okinawa purple.For the baking potatoes I used these large plastic bins that I got from Smart/Final.The kind that you use to keep canned beverages in ice at backyard barbeques (with rope handles).I planted the potatoes in about a foot of soil and when the plants were about a foot tall I started adding more soil and continued until I reached the top of the bins with soil.By then they were flowering.I have 12 bins and grew 3 plants in each on.I am using earth boxes as we speak as growing bins for potatoes.It is actually in the 90's here in Sunny,CA.
I was also using these large plastic pots that look like Terra Cotta but they split after a couple of years in the sun.That and they cost $25.00 a piece.
zebraman,
I think I have the same containers. They look like HUGE mop buckets but have 2 white rope handles. I saw them in Lowes in late August and thought they looked like something I could "retro-fit" for growing. I will be using them this fall to plant my potatoes. Thanks for the info on those TerraCotta pots - I almost purchased them because they look better than my monster mop buckets. I would have been quite upset had I spent $100 on plastic TerraCotta and then have it split. We had our last 90 degree day about 2-3 weeks ago. I have a system for growing potatoes over the winter and have adapted that to include my "mop" buckets. If it works I will be very happy. Basically you dig down at least 12 inches and lay out some fresh fallen leaves to a depth of 6 inches then tamp them down good (mix in fertilizer) then place seed potatoes on top of the leaves. Then you put a minimum of 6 inches of fresh leaves on top and in spring you have new potato growth - you top off the plant as usual. I will be topping off until I get to the top of the bin. I plan to use Peat Moss instead of soil - an experiment I want to try. I will be using Azomite in 3 bins and HollyTone (Espoma) in 3 bins just to see which one works best. Supposedly the mild heat from the composting leaves keeps the seed potatoes from rotting and causes them to develop a strong root system. We do not have severe cold here most winters. We can get down into the 10's and 20's for 2-3 days and get snow and then 3-4 days later we are walking around in shorts.
Thanks for all of your information and help.
Cheers,
DL