Fennel "Romanesco"

Italian fennel "Romanesco" - Foeniculum vulgare var. azoricum.
Aniseed – flavoured dill–like vegetable, smooth and pure white bulbs used for food. The foliage and seeds are dried and frozen, a white bulbs can be baked, boiled or stewed.
This vegetable is highly recommended for fish dishes. Seedlings are planted in the rich soil, permeable to water and air, and harvested in late autumn.

The period from full shoots to the formation of a "head" is 53-68 days. Plant 55-60 cm high. During the flowering period up to 100-110 cm.
The leaves are large, pinnate, the lower ones are petiolate, the upper ones are sessile (from green to dark green), with a slight wax coating. Stem erect, green, strongly branched. "Kochanchik" is white, dense, with small slit-like voids, weighing 200-220 g. The flowers are small, yellow.
It is used fresh and dried as a spicy-flavoring addition to soups, meat dishes and vegetables, and the fruits are used for canning.
Boiled “heads” are used for food, as well as leaves, shoots and roots. Moisture-loving, demanding on lighting and soil fertility.
Agricultural technology.
Fennel loves warmth and light. Vegetation period 130-170 days. Not picky about soils. Blooms the first year from June to August. The fruits ripen in August - early September. Sow in early spring to a depth of 2-4 cm. Seeds germinate at a temperature of +6+8 °C. Seedlings appear in 12-14 days, tolerate frosts down to -8 °C. Landing pattern 15x45 cm.
Harvesting and storage of raw materials.
Leaves and heads are cut off as they grow. Fennel seeds are harvested when the fruits on the central umbrella are dry, and on the umbrellas of the second order they are not yet ripe. They are dried and stored in a dry, ventilated area. Fruit yield is 0.2-0.4 kg/sq.m.

Italian dill - Foeniculum vulgare Mill.
A perennial herbaceous plant of the umbrella family, 150-200 cm high. There are ordinary fennel and vegetable, or sweet. The latter is grown in order to obtain a thickened part of the stem. Fennel is placed on fertile loamy soils, in open, sunny places.
Propagated by seeds. They are sown in mid-May at a depth of 2 cm, according to the scheme of 50 g per 40 cm, at the rate of 0.8-1.0 g / m2.
Care consists in thinning, loosening row spacing, top dressing. In vegetable fennel with a thickening of the stem, hilling is carried out. It is cold-resistant, but without snow it can freeze, so in the fall it is covered with manure or humus. During the dry season, this crop requires watering. Harvesting begins when the plants reach a diameter of 10 cm.

Eng.: Common fennel, garden fennel. Bot. syn.: Anethum foeniculum L., Foeniculum capillaceum , Foeniculum dulce Mill., Foeniculum foeniculum (L.), Foeniculum officinale All., Foeniculum panmoricum DC., Foeniculum piperitum (Ucria), Foeniculum vulgare Gaertn.