FENNEL Florence F1 Rondo 

This is a quick growing hybrid variety and a highly decorative plant for the vegetable garden.  

The uniform, round shaped bulbs with an aniseed flavour can be eaten raw in salads or cooked and served with a white or cheese sauce. 

 

Fennel goes well with Salads, egg dishes, potatoes, fish and paultry, deserts and used as a garnish. 

 

 

 

An excellent garnish or ingredient in salads, egg dishes, potatoes, fish and paultry and deserts. 

 

Florence fennel grows best during warm summers and needs an open, sunny site. Prepare a seedbed in fertile, well-drained soil, adding plenty of well-rotted organic matter the winter before planting. It thrives on warm, moist, fertile, sandy soils. 

 

The plants dislike root disturbance. Sow in cooler climates or, for early crops, better to sow in modules as single seedlings to avoid root damage. Plant out modules as soon as possible once the roots fill container from April, ‘harden off’, then plant out once the soil is warm and there is no danger of frost, from early May onwards. Early sowings are very liable to flower prematurely (bolt); there are bolt-resistant cultivars. 

 

Alternatively, sow directly into the soil, 15mm (½in) deep in rows 30cm (12in) apart, thinning to 30cm (12in) apart in the rows when the soil is warm from May to early July. Use bolt-resistant cultivars for mid-June to mid-July sowings. 

 

Provide plenty of moisture throughout the growing season, keep weed free and mulch to conserve moisture. 

 

Earth up (mound soil) round the bulbs as they start to swell, from mid-summer until mid autumn, until the bulb is mature and about 7-10cm (3-4in across) to blanch the bulbs and to exclude autumn frosts. 

 

Feed with high potassium fertiliser every two weeks once established. 

 

The largest bulbs are formed in warm, sunny, moist summers.