Common fennel, commonly referred to as common dill in pharmacy, is a vegetable crop that has been in demand for many centuries for its beneficial properties and taste. In the wild, this culture grows in Central and Western Asia, Europe, North Africa, Japan, the Caucasus and the Crimea, although Italy is considered its real homeland.
An unpretentious plant, characterized by anise aroma, is found on dry rocky slopes, near dwellings and along roads. On an industrial scale, common fennel is grown in France, Romania, Spain, South Africa, the Czech Republic, India, Holland, and Hungary. Such a culture has found recognition in Ukraine and Russia.
Fennel vulgaris: description
The celery fennel belonging to the family is characterized by erect, with a bluish bloom, a highly branched round stem, capable of reaching 2 meters in height. The leaves are green, repeatedly pinnate, similar to the leaves of ordinary dill.
The main roots, of which there are several, stem, powerful, have a thickness of 1-1.5 cm. The flowers of the plant are very small, collected in umbrellas, bloom from July to August. From the moment of sowing, fennel blooms for the second season. The fruits are quite small (the weight of a thousand pieces is about 7 grams), characterized by an oblong shape and a sweetish taste. Their full maturation occurs in September.
Fennel as a garden crop
Many summer residents plant little fennel, which requires a lot of trouble with a small yield. Moreover, its proximity to other vegetable crops (tomatoes, caraway seeds, carrots, beans, peppers, spinach, beans) is unfavorable. It is believed that the plant inhibits the growth of its neighbors. However, when planting a separate garden bed, timely processing and watering, ordinary fennel does not harm nearby growing crops: it takes roots on foreign territory only with a lack of moisture. By the way, the aroma of fennel repels aphids.
Properties of ordinary fennel
Today, fashionable ordinary fennel (photos are presented in the article) has a lot of properties that are useful to the human body.
Its seeds contain trace elements, fatty oils, mineral salts, protein and sugar. Young shoots, seeds, petioles and their fleshy bases are used for food - a kind of head of cabbage.
Fennel seeds contain sugar, proteins, fats, essential oil, of which atenol is an integral part, and are used in the preparation of confectionery and bakery products, puddings, soups and wine. The colorless essential oil obtained by steam distillation and characterized by a strong anise odor is successfully used in the perfume industry.
Contraindications
Contraindications of this plant include its individual intolerance. If you feel dizzy or nauseous, you need to abandon its use. The use of fennel is not recommended during pregnancy, the lactation period and epileptic seizures. An upset stomach and allergic reactions can lead to an overdose of drugs that are based on fennel.
Young shoots and leaves are an excellent substitute for the usual dill, and petioles are a specific seasoning for preservation. Greens are placed in dishes - in limited quantities and only in fresh form. By the way, the ability to give fresh greens to the very frost is one of the valuable qualities of fennel. Bowls are suitable for use after light heat treatment: stewing, frying and baking; they are also added raw to salads.
Growing
How to cultivate common fennel? Growing from seeds is not particularly difficult. An important point is the selection of high-quality and fresh seeds, which are presented on the store shelves in 2 types: ordinary fennel gives only greens and seeds, and vegetable (or Italian) - dense snow-white cabbage. Germination of seeds is maintained for 2-3 years.
Fennel can be propagated in a vegetative way - by dividing the bush, but this method is used infrequently. Gardeners like sowing fennel seeds. This operation is performed twice a year - in the spring (from April to the end of May) or in winter (August-September) - to a depth of 2 cm in a pre-harvested garden. If necessary, the soil needs to be grown, seasoned with sawdust and humus (1 square meter - 1 bucket) or ash (0.5 kg per 1 square meter). The most comfortable photophilous fennel feels on light loamy or sandy loamy soils. It is recommended to change the landing site annually, and use winter and row crops as predecessors. Before planting, the soil needs to be fertilized, put in a bucket of compost, peat or dung humus per square meter and a pair of cans of sawdust.
Sowing Features
During spring sowing (in the first ten days of April), the bed must be kept under the film until May in order to preserve moisture. After 5-10 days, the emerged seedlings must be thinned out, leaving a 20-centimeter interval between plants. With a thickened planting, there is a high probability of premature stem and flowering, thickened petioles will not reach the desired size, which will negatively affect the quality of the expected crop. After thinning, fennel must be fed with mullein infusion. Fennel seeds do not germinate sparingly. If the crops are too early, the plant is prone to darting.
Ordinary fennel, whose beneficial properties and contraindications are appreciated by traditional medicine, can be grown by the seedling method. Seeding for seedlings is carried out in late February - early March. Picking in this case is optional, but desirable (once, when landing in open ground).
Caring for Fennel
At the end of May - beginning of June, crops need to be slightly spudded out, approximately to a height of 3-7 cm. This procedure, aimed at obtaining fleshy bleached root roots, is recommended to be repeated twice a season. To avoid smearing white heads of fennel, the lower part of the plant is recommended to be artificially protected at the beginning of summer. To do this, cut rings from a plastic bottle (approximate width is 20 cm) and put them on plants, slightly deepening into the ground. During the growth process, fennel is twice required to be fed with an infusion of fermented grass or mullein, for the preparation of which cow manure must be diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 3. For watering, the resulting infusion is recommended to be used in a ratio of 1:10.
Ordinary fennel, the cultivation of which is not particularly difficult, needs frequent cultivation and watering: once every 5-6 days (for every square meter - 10-15 liters of water). Soil mulching can be used to protect against weeds and save moisture. Fennel fruits ripen in August-September.
Harvesting fennel
Fennel harvesting provides valuable useful raw materials and is produced throughout the summer. The leaf mass after collection is dried, ventilated and stored in a hermetically sealed container, preferably glass. Seeds are harvested as they mature, in the brown stage. Then they are dried for 2-3 days in a well-ventilated dark place, crushed or threshed. Seed conservation is required in a well-closed container. Harvesting of roots occurs by digging them, washing them off the ground, drying them and cutting them. After that, they need to be well dried or frozen. Or, fennel roots can be stored in the usual way, like other root crops.
Medical use
Common fennel, whose beneficial properties have been known for a long time, has found its application in the medical industry and is used in the treatment of nervous and skin diseases. Decoctions and infusions from this plant are used as a preventive measure for colds. Fennel oil is the basis for the preparation of dill water, endowed with expectorant and laxative properties. Most often, this remedy is prescribed for bloating in newborn babies, as well as gastrointestinal cramps of a painful nature.
Fennel extract is found in many drugs aimed at killing fleas and lice in pets. In the fight against such parasites, you can use the plant in fresh form. For this, fresh leaves need to be crushed and rubbed into the fur of four-legged pets.
Fennel fruits are used to improve digestion and stimulate appetite, with the accumulation of gases in the intestines, kidney ailments, and inflammatory diseases of the respiratory tract. To prepare a therapeutic solution, 2-3 tablespoons of chopped fennel fruit is required to pour a glass of boiling water and take 1-3 tablespoons 3-4 times a day.
In medical baths, the effect of fennel brooms is effective, which in combination with water vapor have a relaxing and healing effect on the human body.