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Growing Fennel herbs and bulbs at home gardens in USA

Fennel leaves are very good herbs for smell, garnishing, and salad use. You can grow them easily in your house garden. But in favorable conditions, they occupy the soil nature and make it less effective for non-compatible plants. That's why it is always suggested to grow them separately in your garden.

Although fennel bulbs are so popular, I'll talk about fennel leaves here mostly with their basic requirements and guide to grow them in the garden with simple steps. 

Growing fennel herbs and bulbs in garden

Fennel leaves and bulbs are two different things. Fennel leaves are considered herbs but bulbs are underground growing things. Let's understand more about them in brief. 

Fennel herb Vs Fennel bulb

The general variety of fennel plants grow in two sections; Fennel bulb and green herb. The bulb grows in the ground and the herbs section is the green part of the plant. 

Both are used for different purposes. We use fennel leaves to garnish and in Salad. It contains a good smell as well. 

Growing fennel herbs in garden

A fennel bulb is a raw section that also include in salad and use for various other purposes. It takes more time than growing fennel herbs. It is perennial. Some fennel varieties are perennial but they die in too-cold climates. 

Season of growing Fennel

Fennel plantations can be started in the fall season in the USA. Instead of growing it in spring or summer, fall is more habitable for fennel growth. 

In cool climate regions, you can try it in spring though but in warm climates, the plantation is more comfortable in fall for fennel plants.

Requirements to grow 

Soil type- Loamy or ordinary garden soil with rich components, well-drained

  • Temperature- 32F to 70F
  • Climate- Cool climate
  • Humidity- From 20% to 40%
  • Sunlight- Direct sunlight 6 to 8 hours daily
  • Shade- Partial shade of maximum 3 hours

Tools required

  • Cultivator 
  • Spade 
  • Irrigation spraying bottle

Materials required

  • Garden soil 
  • Vermicompost 
  • Sand
  • Natural fertilizer with less iron

Method of growing Fennel

Let's understand fennel cultivation in easy steps- 

Step 1- Preparing the soil in the garden

Preparing the soil is the first thing one should do after getting the right climate conditions and weather. For this, use three components only; garden soil, vermicompost/organic compost, and sand. Mix these three mixtures in a ratio of 2:2:1. Keep it moist before sowing seeds. Don't wet the soil though. 

Step 2- Sowing fennel seeds

Before sowing, inspect and confirm the seed variety. Sow each seed at a distance of 10 to 12 inches with each other in rows and columns. You can use two seeds in a place to improve the germination rate. 

Step 3- Fennel seed germination 

After 12 to 15 days, fennel seeds start germination. Their further growing rate is slightly faster than germination. Within just 30 to 35 days, you can harvest the fennel leaves for your daily use. It hardly takes 40 days maximum to establish itself.

Step 4- First harvesting of fennel leaves

The question is how do you know that the fennel plant is established and you can harvest the leaves? You will know with its height and bushy growth. When the plant becomes 1.5 to 2 feet tall, you can start first harvesting. 

Don't break the stem, be careful and use sharp scissors to cut the leaves for use. 

Step 5- Irrigation 

During the entire growing cycle, you should keep irrigation while the soil gets dry or less moist. 

Step 6- Growing and harvesting fennel bulb

After 60 to 70 days of sowbiing, if you have a variety of fennel bulbs, then it will start growing bulbs. Initially, this bulb grows at a good rate but after a while when it gets to its maximum size, it takes some to get mature. So overall, within 3 months, you can harvest your fennel bulb from your garden. 

Step 7- harvesting fennel bulb

Each plant produces one fennel bulb. So you can pick them as you do with onions. Although, fennel leaves don't stop growing and you can grow them further with multiple harvesting. But with a fennel bulb, you need to pick the whole plant up. 

You can store fennel bulbs in the freezer for at least a week easily.

Precautions while growing Fennel

Several precautions are needed if you are growing fennel leaves in your garden- 

  • Plant fennel separate in garden

As much as possible, grow fennel plants in a separate section of the garden. Special care when plants will get mature in later periods. 

The fennel plants affect the soil very quickly for non-compatible plants of fennel. Thus the overall growth of the other plants gets slowed down. So keep these plants at least 10 feet away from your main garden non-compatible plants. 

  • Harvest 

You can harvest fennel herbs multiple times during the growing period. But don't cut the leaves at the edges. Try to keep it more simple and use older leaves. If you pluck the older leaves, it will give a boost to the new leaves. 

  • Sowing time

Sowing time is very important otherwise you will get fennel herbs though but it will become difficult to get a proper fennel bulb. Match the ideal temperature for fennel in your garden. 

  • Gap between plants

Try to keep every plant distance just more than you keep while growing onions. Keep the plant-to-plant distance 10 to 12 inches. 

  • Fertilization 

While getting green herbs, you don't need fertilization if you have mixed it earlier before sowing. 

While the fennel bulb gets growth, you should at least fertilize once to provide a boost. While the bulb becomes a 3cm ball, you can fertilize and that will be enough for its growth until it becomes a tennis ball size. 

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