Fennel

I have not yet successfully grown fennel bulbs. I have, however, successfully grown beautiful fennel flowers.

The fennel you see in shops, often termed a fennel ‘bulb’, is actually the swollen base of the plant stems. To grow good fennel bulbs, sow seeds direct, and keep plants well watered, so they grow fast without interruptions, stemming any inclination to bolt. I did not succeed in any of these recommendations, although I admit I was a bit half hearted in my attempt. I’m not a huge fan of fennel as a veggie but I am enamoured with the flowers, which are a bright sunny yellow and rise to nearly 2m tall.

Fennel is part of the apiaceae or umbellifer family, along with carrots, parsley and dill. They all have beautiful flat umbel (umbrella-like) flowers that are fabulous at attracting beneficial insects, but fennel flowers in particular are FULL of pollen. In the two or three minutes I spent grabbing some photos for this post, I saw three different pollinators, a European honey-bee, a wasp and a blowfly (flies are pollinators too!). For aspiring foodies, dried fennel pollen is a culinary powerhouse and is up there with vanilla and saffron in terms of price. I haven’t tried it dried, but munching on a fresh fennel flower gives you a sweet kick, followed by a citrusy, liquorice-like aftertaste.

When the flowers fade and are replaced by seeds, I’ll wait until they start to dry on the plant before picking stems to hang upside down in a paper bag. I’ll save some seeds to use in cooking, and keep the rest to plant out again. Maybe I’ll try for bulbs…but maybe I’ll be lazy and just let them flower again.