A robust bulb fennel with a sweet, mild flavour, equally delicious raw or cooked.
About the variety. The Géant Mamouth Perfection variety produces white, vigorous roots with good bolt resistance and highly decorative green foliage. The aromatic seeds are also excellent for herbal infusions.
Itinerário técnico
Como cultivar fennel perfection?
Um guia de cultivo passo a passo, da sementeira à colheita.
pH ideal 6.0 to 7.0Temperatura ideal 15 to 20 °CCompasso 20 cm in the row, 40 to 50 cm between rows
Sementeira
Sow direct one to one and a half centimetres deep in rows and thin to twenty five or thirty centimetres. Direct sowing is best, because transplanting and root disturbance trigger bolting. Sow in late summer to crop in autumn in southern Europe; in France and Germany sow from mid June to July, because spring sowings almost always bolt due to the long days. At about 50 centimetres tall, this variety grows well in a pot twenty centimetres deep with drainage holes. Use a pot at least twenty five centimetres deep with drainage holes, and expect to water more often, because a pot dries out far faster than open ground.
Solo
It wants loose, fertile, deep and free draining soil at a pH between 6.0 and 7.0. Earth up around the bulb as it begins to form, to blanch it and make it more tender. Poor or dry soil gives small fibrous bulbs, so work in mature compost before sowing.
Clima
It prefers cool steady weather, between 15 °C and 20 °C. Any stress, whether prolonged cold, drought or long days, makes the plant bolt without forming a bulb, and that is what ruins most crops of it. Autumn is the right season across most of western Europe. On the Portuguese coast sow from late summer to early spring and harvest from autumn to late spring. Inland in Portugal and Spain, concentrate the crop in autumn, winter and early spring, because from June onwards heat and long days push it to bolt and turn bitter. In France and Germany sow from mid June to July, so the bulb forms as the days shorten: spring sowings bolt. In Italy follow the Iberian calendar in the centre and south and the French one in the north. Light shade over the middle of the day extends the harvest in any warm climate.
Fertilização
Its needs are moderate. One to two kilos of mature compost per square metre worked in before sowing covers most of the cycle. If the leaves pale, one watering with a balanced liquid organic feed halfway through is enough. Never use fresh manure, which burns roots and encourages disease.
Rega
Water regularly and never let the soil dry out: water shortage is the most direct trigger for bolting and toughens the bulb. Mulch the soil with straw to stabilise moisture. In a pot or a raised bed, water almost every day in hot weather.
Controlo de Infestantes
Hoe often and always shallowly, because the roots are short, near the surface and break easily. The best method is to prepare the bed two or three weeks in advance, let the first flush of weeds germinate, remove it and only then sow: that gives you a decisive head start. A thin layer of sieved compost between the rows greatly reduces later work.
Controlo de Pragas
It is little attacked. Watch for aphids on the soft leaves and slugs on young plants. Swallowtail caterpillars eat the foliage but rarely in numbers worth acting on, and the butterfly is welcome in the garden. Carrot fly sometimes attacks the base of the bulb where carrot or celery grew before: rotate and cover with fine mesh if the pest is common in your garden. At the seedling stage an aphid colony slows growth badly: apply potassium soap at the first sign.
Doenças
It suffers few diseases. In waterlogged soil the bulb can rot, and in damp weather leaf spots and powdery mildew appear. Sclerotinia rots the collar with a white mould in damp poorly aired beds: pull out affected plants and do not water from above. Ensure drainage, spacing and a three year rotation away from carrot, parsley and celery. Yellow leaves in a wet autumn are almost always too much water rather than disease: cut back watering and hoe to air the soil.
Colheita
Harvest when the bulb is the size of a fist and still firm and white. Do not let the bulb stretch and open, a sign it is about to bolt: from then on it turns fibrous. Cut at ground level with a knife and leave the root in place, because it often resprouts and gives a smaller second crop. The feathery leaves and the seeds are used as a herb. The reference colour is white bulb and green foliage, and that is what tells you it is ready.
