I just pulled a bunch of fennel, but I see taproots, not bulbs
gribbleton
11 years ago
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lantanascape
11 years agoRelated Discussions
Recipe for using deep-taproot plants to break up soil compaction?
Comments (18).. gardengal48, Thanks for the reply. I donâÂÂt have the resources to invest in a rain garden right now. All but one of our downspouts empties on to our property either directly or across the driveway and then onto the grass. IâÂÂll divert the last one from the street before the season starts in earnest. The lawn out front slopes away from the house and IâÂÂve noticed when IâÂÂve left a sprinkler on too long during my weekend deep watering routines it will leak through crack in the pavement to the street and quite some distance from the sprinkler. We have a winter rainy season and remain pretty dry the rest of the year. So we get a lot of rain during one season and our soil out front just isnâÂÂt holding it in. I planted a couple of trees out front and I think thatâÂÂs starting to do the trick on one side. The other side has an old tree right smack in the middle. IâÂÂve been propagating California poppies from an 89 cent pack of seeds I bought as an impulse buy in a drug store some time ago. I threw some seeds around when we first moved in and from the couple that thrived we now have them spreading about as I harvested the seeds over time. I go around and trim them in an attempt to keep them going all year long so their taproots keep running deeper and become more substantial. Time to spread a bunch of the seeds I saved now that itâÂÂs the end of November. One of these days IâÂÂll find some other suitable natives to plant. Native California plants offered are often Northern California and not always suited for our hot dry spot between the desert and the coast. For gardening IâÂÂm probably going to go down the container path. Our garage is in the back so a lot of ground is taken over by concrete. The rest of the yard was already planned and planted when we moved in and the open grass area is needed for the dogs. I havenâÂÂt figured out what to do with the lawn out front. IâÂÂm having troubles with the âÂÂwell conceivedâ part. In the meantime I keep the watering to a minimum and alternate between grass cycling and harvesting grass clippings for feedstock in the digesting bins I maintain for our yard clippings and kitchen scraps. to sense .....See MoreI thought I had fennel, but it doesn't have a bulb...
Comments (2)Double post - the ongoing discussion over on Vegetable Forum has already answered this question. Your plants are most likely fennel, just not Florence Fennel. The roots of the herb fennel are edible but as you have found not palatable. By digging the roots you have destroyed the plant which would have provided you with leaves, stems and seeds for several years. Do you have a picture of your own fennel plants/roots? (The picture is not the OP's)...See More'Just planted (Perfection Fennel).'
Comments (1)I planted Finocchio fennel last year, and that was my first experience with growing it. First off, it took a really long time to germinate. I did direct sow, per the instructions, but mine didn't go in until the end of May I want to say. I planted four seeds (I do SFG) I had 50% germination, and then one of the sprouts just died off for some reason. So I had one fennel bulb that grew, but once it started growing, boy did it take off! It grew and grew and grew, I used it as an herb from time to time and would just snip off a piece of stalk and some fronds, all told it ended up at least 3 feet tall. I think I waited too long to harvest the bulb, because it was a little tough, but it sure was flavorful! One thing that really surprised me though was the taproot. WOW! It's massive and goes very deep. If I had one bit of advice it would be to make sure that your soil is nice and loose to give that root room to grow. I'm not growing it this year, simply because I have limited room and other things I want to try, but I would definitely grow it again. I also read that you can start it in cool weather and then it would resist bolting later on... I don't know, mine took several weeks to germinate in full sun. I guess the worst that could happen is you try a few seeds and see if they do anything. If not, sow again when it is warmer out. A quick Google search for ideal temps led me to 77F being the ideal temp for fennel germination....See MoreWhat to do with taproot when you transplant a tree?
Comments (54)People are also talking about trimming the top growth to compensate for the reduced roots. I have an apricot out the front, planted in Winter, and I never cut back the young branches as advised. I had been planning to have a huge enormous tree with a lot of fruit, to see what would happen. (Was also, at the time, tossing up whether to prune it in such a way that he would be a very very small tree.) (I have trouble with decisions.) Anyhow, he has his tall slender branches intact, and in leaf, and is finding it a bit of a slog. His roots were fairly appalling in my opinion but I was comparing them, unfairly, to the sort of root systems that I had been accustomed to seeing. (Of non-fruit trees, I might add. Although, some of them would have been crabapples and flowering plums. Do they have a better root system than a tree grown for its fruit as a general rule? We never grew fruit trees.) So, all this to say that I think I agree with the trimming of the top of a tree at planting time, if it was bare-rooted, and definitely if it is a fruit tree....See Moregribbleton
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