Fennel seed harvest

My purple fennel plants didn't put on much of a show this year. I'm not complaining too much; a perennial has the right to settle in. Still, they did put out some nice flowers, even if the plants themselves were not impressive. Those flowers are all turning now to seed, so I went out and harvested those that were dry. They look a lot like caraway seeds at that point, for those who are not familiar with them. They're used in baking and sausage-making, among other things, and have a mild, licorice-like flavour. My mother-in-law is a great fan of fennel.

Here is a spray of seeds that are not quite ready.



You can see that they are still green and plump. I'm afraid some of the ripe seeds did fall to the ground, so I'm going to have to mulch well with the leaves I'm already mooching off my neighbours to prevent having scores of eager seedlings in the spring.

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