Growing fennel from seed

[Plot70]

I have bought a packet of fennel seeds. Not many supermarkets sell it so it is ripe for growing.
The pack instruction says plant outdoors May to early July.
I have had a look on the web and have found advice meant for commercial growers.
The impression I get is that there is a trade-off between early cropping and bolting.
I am going to put some in my back garden and some more on the allotment. The pack claims to contain 250 seeds.
Has anyone else had a go at growing fennel?

[ameno]

I assume you mean Florence fennel?
If you sow any time before June, then it will bolt. 100% guaranteed.
Even from June onwards, it's rather finicky. It needs a fairly uninterrupted supply of water, or else it will just bolt.

[Plot70]

I assume you mean Florence fennel?
If you sow any time before June, then it will bolt. 100% guaranteed.
Even from June onwards, it's rather finicky. It needs a fairly uninterrupted supply of water, or else it will just bolt.

The seed pack says "fennel of Florence" and is branded Wilco.
My interpretation of there being a trade-off between bolting and early cropping is pretty close to your advice. On my plot the fertile soil is a head and neck from the boundary because the next plot has chickens on it so it is a trade off between fertility from the chickens and the plants getting eaten.

[quanglewangle]

I assume you mean Florence fennel?
If you sow any time before June, then it will bolt. 100% guaranteed.
Even from June onwards, it's rather finicky. It needs a fairly uninterrupted supply of water, or else it will just bolt.

Thanks for this. Had problems bolting and aways planted April / May. Will try later.

[Penellype]

I usually sow it in June, but find that it doesn't form the large bulbs that you see on the seed packet pictures and it still sometimes bolts. Last year I tried overwintering baby fennel sown in August - they are starting to grow now and will bolt soon. The bulbs are about finger thick and there are plenty of fronds which can also be eaten. Whether this relative success was due to the mild winter and they would have keeled over in a colder one I have no idea, but the lack of bolting could well be due to avoiding the hot and dry summer weather.

[quanglewangle]

Inspired by this thread I have just ordered some seed from Amazon. Will give it another try....

[Snadger]

I am sowing fennel today......but it isn't Florence Fennel, its out of a Swartz herb jar. I'm also sowing Cumin seeds from a similar jar.
I agree about the late sowing of Florence Fennel having grown it before. If grown I sow it at the same time as Mooli which also bolts if sown earlier.

I used to grow Golden Fennel as a short lived perennial but it's a thug and self seeds everywhere.

I like to copy the Roman breath freshening trick by chewing the seeds.

[Guest]

I always sow my bulb fennel from the longest day as it is easy to remember. This day also applies to many Chinese veg and biennial flower seeds

[RedRuth]

I grow Florence Fennel most years, I always sow seed in June to avoid bolting, two rows a couple of weeks apart. They germinate pretty well - better than Parsnip not as well as Beetroot! They've always been successful here in the west country but we rarely get frosts before mid November.

[Bonjour]

I've grown Florence Fennel in the past, sown in May. I had reasonable bulbs and no bolting, perhaps I was lucky. I'll be growing it again this year but I'm now considering leaving it a little later after reading the replies here.

[PyreneesPlot]

I'm another one that doesn't sow until after the longest day, although I've never had much joy - while it rarely bolts it never fills out either, so we end up having to pick three or four to get a meal. I love it though, so try every year.
But the swallowtail butterflies often lay their eggs on it so I guess that counts as a success!

[veggiechicken]

There's a Growing Guide for Fennel (all sorts) at https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/ho...growing-fennel

[Sweet savory]

Last year I grew fennel finale sown after solstice in modules and direct protected by plastic bottle slug guards. The direct sown germinated fine but no discernible difference in when both ready to harvest or in size. So will go half module and half sown direct again. I love the taste although the bulbs often seem to be riddled with woodlice so need careful preparation.

[Plot70]

The woodlice sound like a real pain.
I also use plastic bottle seedling guards.
One year we had woolf-pack slugs. They were black about an inch and a quarter long and struck in a woolf-pack of between 10 and 40 or more. The goard seedlings were under the guards and about 2 hours after dark I checked and found that the first waves had taken the slug pellets and died so that later waves were climbing over there dead comrades and reaching towards the seedlings. I just scraped the lot up and renewed the slug pellets. They start at one end of the seed bed and work there way along if not dealt with.
The press were on about 8 or 10 inch slugs. They were a lot smaller and in great numbers.
There are some that strip the bark off runner bean seedlings. the bottle guards work for them too.