Fennel ordinary: growing from seeds

Fennel ordinary, called in common people's pharmacy dill, is a vegetable culture, claimed for many centuries for its useful 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 to be its native land. An unpretentious plant, characterized by anise aroma, occurs on dry stony slopes, near dwellings and along roads. On an industrial scale, fennel is grown in France, Romania, Spain, South Africa, Czech Republic, India, Holland, Hungary. Such a culture found its recognition on the territory of Ukraine and Russia.

Fennel ordinary: description

The fennel family belonging to the family is characterized by erect, with a bluish coating, a highly branched stem of round shape, capable of reaching a 2-meter height. The leaves are green, many times pinnate, like the leaves of ordinary dill. The main roots, which are several, pivotal, powerful, have a thickness of 1-1.5 cm. The flowers of the plant are very small, collected in umbrellas, blossom from July to August. From the moment of sowing fennel blooms for the second season. The fruits are rather small (the weight of a thousand pieces is about 7 grams), characterized by an oblong shape and a sweetish taste. Their full maturation takes place in September.

Fennel as a garden crop

Many summer residents do not put much fennel, which requires great trouble with an insignificant harvest. In addition, its neighborhood for other vegetables (tomatoes, cumin, carrots, beans, peppers, spinach, beans) is unfavorable. There is an opinion that the plant depresses the growth of its neighbors. However, when planting a separate bed, timely processing and watering fennel ordinary does not harm a number of growing crops: the roots of foreign territory, he lets only with a lack of moisture. By the way, the aroma of fennel frightens off the aphid.

Properties of fennel

Now fashionable fennel ordinary (photos are presented in the article) has a lot of properties useful for the human body. Its seeds contain trace elements, fatty oils, mineral salts, protein and sugar. In food, young shoots, seeds, petioles and their fleshy bases are used - a kind of kochanchiki.

Fennel seeds contain sugar, proteins, fats, essential oil, athenol is an integral part, and are used in the preparation of confectionery and bakery products, puddings, soups and wine. 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 his individual intolerance. When there is a feeling of dizziness or nausea, you must stop using it. It is not recommended to use fennel during pregnancy, lactation period and epileptic seizures. To the disorder of the stomach and the appearance of allergic reactions may result in an overdose of preparations containing fennel in its basis.

Young shoots and leaves are an excellent substitute for the usual dill, and petioles are a special seasoning for preserves. The greens are put in dishes - in limited quantities and only fresh. By the way, the ability to give fresh greens to the very frosts is one of the valuable qualities of fennel. Kochanchiki are suitable for use after a light heat treatment: quenching, frying and baking; Also they are added in raw form to salads.

Cultivation

How to cultivate fennel ordinary? Cultivation from seeds does not present especial difficulties. An important point is the selection of quality and fresh seeds, which are represented on the store shelves by 2 types: fennel ordinary gives exclusively greens and seeds, and vegetable (or Italian) - dense snow-white kochanchiki. Germination seeds are preserved for 2-3 years. You can propagate fennel vegetatively - by dividing the bush, but this method is used infrequently. Ogorodnikam like the seeding of fennel seeds. This operation is performed twice a year - in the spring (from April to the end of May) or in winter (August-September) - at a depth of 2 cm in a pre-prepared bed. If necessary, the soil must be brewed, filled with sawdust and humus (1 square meter-1 bucket) or ash (0.5 kg per 1 sq. Meter). The most comfortable photophilic fennel feels on light loamy or sandy loamy soils. Land for planting is recommended annually to change, and as a precursor to use winter crops and row crops. Before planting, the soil needs to be fertilized, along a bucket of compost, peat or manure for each square meter and a pair of cans of sawdust.

Features of sowing

In the spring sowing (in the first ten days of April), the bed before May is required to be kept under a film to preserve moisture. After 5-10 days, the emergence of seedlings is required to be thinned, leaving a 20-centimeter interval between plants. With the thickening of the planting, the probability of premature stalking and flowering is great, thickened petioles do not reach the desired size, which will negatively affect the quality of the expected harvest. After thinning, fennel must be supplemented with maternal infusion. Fennel seeds unfurl. With too early crops, the plant is prone to archery.

Fennel ordinary, useful properties and contra-indications of which are appreciated by folk medicine, can be grown by seedling method. Sowing for seedlings is done in late February - early March. Picking in this case is optional, but desirable (once, when landing in the open ground).

Care of fennel ordinary

At the end of May - beginning of June, the crops need to be slightly bored, approximately to a height of 3-7 cm. It is recommended to repeat this procedure aimed at obtaining fleshy bleached root roots twice a season. To avoid smearing of white fennel hens, the lower part of the plant in the beginning of summer is recommended to be artificially protected. For this, it is required to cut the rings from a plastic bottle (approximate width - 20 cm) and put them on the plants, slightly deeper into the ground. In the process of growth, fennel must be supplemented twice with infusion of fermented herb or mullein, for the preparation of which cow manure is required to dilute with water in a proportion of 1: 3. For watering, the infusion obtained is recommended to be used in a ratio of 1:10.

Fennel ordinary, the cultivation of which is not particularly difficult, requires frequent loosening and watering: every 5-6 days (for each square meter - 10-15 liters of water). You can apply mulching soil, aimed at protecting against weeds and preserving moisture. Fennel fruit ripening occurs in August-September.

Fennel preparation

Procurement fennel allows you to get valuable useful raw materials and produced throughout the summer. Leaf mass after collection is dried, aired and stored in a hermetically sealed container, preferably glass. Seeds are harvested as they mature, in the brown stage. Then they dry 2-3 days in a well-ventilated dark place, kneaded or threshed. It is required to save seeds in a well sealed container. Harvesting of roots occurs by digging, washing from the ground, drying and cutting. After that they need to be well dried or frozen. Alternatively, the roots of fennel can be stored in the usual way, as well as other roots.

Application in medicine

Fennel ordinary, useful properties of which have been known for a long time, 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 for preventive purposes in cases of catarrhal diseases. Fennel oil is the basis for the preparation of dill water, endowed with expectorant and laxative properties. Most often, this drug is prescribed for bloating in newborn babies, as well as gastrointestinal spasms of a painful nature.

Fennel extract is found in many preparations aimed at the destruction of fleas and lice in domestic animals. In the fight against such parasites, you can also use the plant in fresh form. To do this, fresh leaves are required to grind and rub into the hair of four-legged pets.

Fennel fruits are used to improve digestion and stimulation of appetite, with accumulation in the intestines of gases, kidney ailments, inflammatory diseases of the respiratory tract. To prepare a medicinal solution 2-3 tablespoons of chopped fennel fruits, you need to pour a glass of boiling water and take 1-3 tablespoons 3-4 times a day.

In therapeutic baths, the effect of fennel brooms, which in combination with water vapor is relaxing and at the same time healthily acting on the human body, is effective.