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Wild fennel flowers, a luxury in the wrong place

This week I removed some black plastic on the land of my future lavender farm. How are the weeds after 3 and 6 months covered with black plastic? The good news: the bindweed is gone. And even in the last few days, even with an unexpected rain shower, it did not occur again. But, I seem to have a new enemy. A plant that is apparently much more persistent. Namely wild fennel.
wild fennel pollen

This week I removed some black plastic on the land of my future lavender farm. How are the weeds after 3 and 6 months covered with black plastic? The good news: the bindweed is gone. And even in the last few days, even with an unexpected rain shower, it did not occur again. But, I seem to have a new enemy. A plant that is apparently much more persistent. Namely wild fennel.

After six months of darkness, it’s still there

After six months of total darkness, it is still there. Small and white, but still. Even after weeding, they emerge again. 1st round: 42 pieces on 35 m2. 2nd round 13 pieces (that goes well!) But then the 3rd round again 21 pieces. Fennel, that’s just a tough one.

I am shocked to see that the field next door is completely filled with fennel. And in bloom. Fennel flowers everywhere I look. If all that seed comes loose, I have a lot of extra work.

The wild fennel may not go well with the lavender, but it is actually a fantastic plant. You can use just about every part of the wild fennel. On the dried stalks, fish is smoked at the chirinquitos on the beach, I understand.

The wild fennel flowers are delicious in a stew and the young leaves very good in a salad. The seeds you can put in your bread or make tea with it.

One part of wild fennel is even healthier than the other. Against gases, against high cholesterol…

And now they are in bloom, exactly on my future lavender field. It is actually too late to mow, because seed is already falling out. So I make a virtue of necessity.

Manually harvesting the flowers and seeds of the wild fennel

Today and tomorrow I spend a few hours manually harvesting the flowers and seeds. It smells wonderfully of fennel, on the land and now also in the house. It is a shame that they have to leave the lavender field, but luckily they are in many other places on the land and I don’t have to worry about whether they will manage there. They are realy strong, that has been proven.

Recipes and background about wild fennel on the website ‘eat the invaders’.

Mariette van Schaik
Mariette van Schaik

owner of Essential.blue

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