Growing Fennel

The Fennel Mystery

I have recently been using a lot of fennel in my cooking (see recipe below). I love the taste. I also read that it is good for PMS and menopause symptoms.

So I decided to plant some seeds. This was done about 3 weeks ago, along with some leek seeds. The leeks are sprouting, but not the fennel! Not sure if this is usual or not, having not grown fennel before.

I highly suspect there is a pest in my vegetable garden, as not only is the fennel not appearing, but the heads of two of my red pepper plants have been lopped off. We, in Ontario, Canada, have had unusually heavy rain for this time of year, so I'm not sure if the rain battered the pepper plants, or if some unknown pest has been at them.

Sauteed Fennel

1 Fennel bulb
1 - 2 tbl. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper to taste
Serves 2

1. Slice end from fennel and remove outer leaves. Remove core.
2. Slice length-wise 1/4" thick
   
3. Heat olive oil in frying pan
4. Sprinkle Fennel slices with salt and pepper
5. Place fennel slices in pan, and brown on one side.
6. Turn over and brown on the other
7. Lower heat to minimum, and cook for 10 to 15 minutes until soft

Bon appetite!

How to Make A Lasagna Garden: Control Weeds, Fertilize, and Recycle!

Save Your Back - You Don't Need To Dig!
Does the thought of digging out a new garden make your back ache? Or do you have an existing garden where the soil needs some help? Lasagna Gardening may be your answer.

I discovered this method a few years ago. We had a window replaced, and the workmen pounded the earth so much, that the garden underneath the window ended up like rock. We could barely turn the earth. Then I found out about Lasagna Gardening, sometimes called No-till or No-dig gardening.

Go Organic
I was amazed at how much the soil condition improved. This year I am using Lasagna Gardening in my vegetable garden. Experts say that the Lasagna Garden is more beneficial than tilling, for not only plant health, but also for the health of the microscopic and other little creatures, like worms, that make the earth healthy. It is an organic way to fertilize, control weeds and recycle newsprint.

There are many different "recipes" for a Lasgana Garden. Below is the method I've used.

Ingredients

1. Newsprint - shredded or whole sheets. Use only black and white uncoated paper, not glossy coloured paper
   
2. Organic material, like mulched leaves, grass clippings, or straw
3. Compost
4. Triple Mix
5. Topsoil
6. Mulch

Method

1. Thoroughly soak newsprint. This not only aids decomposition of newspaper, but also stops the papers from flying around on windy days.
2. Lay newspapers over garden bed
3. Layer with remaining ingredients in order noted above
4. Repeat layers as necessary

To replenish my existing garden, I found one layer to be adequate. However, if you are creating a new garden over top of grass, or even concrete, then you will need several layers, finishing off with the mulch.



To see more Lasagna Garden "recipes", you may want to view some videos I found on YouTube below. You might also want to view this web page for detailed instructions: http://www.gardenersgardening.com/lasagnagardening.html.

Priming the garden canvas

Weather was great, here in Ontario, Canada, this past Sunday. At last a chance to start working on the gardens. Something I love about gardening, is that in the Spring, each year you have a blank canvas to work with! Once I have all the earth churned and topped up with compost and a nice clean layer of top soil, I imagine what I'll grow there and how beautiful it will look.

I am not one of the neatest gardeners. I usually leave ripping up spent annuals and other plant matter from the previous season until the Spring. I figure it's a way of composting. As you can imagine, it's a lot of work in Spring to prime my garden canvas.

Also great exercise. Did you know you can burn approximately 250 calories an hour gardening? 350 if you are hoeing, which is pretty much what I was doing on Sunday.

But I digress. I primed my small vegetable plot with a method called "Lasagna Gardening", sometimes called sheet or layer gardening.

It's a great way to accomplish good things like:
- Weed control
- Fertilizing the soil
- Recycling

Will post more on how to do that with my next blog.