Kitchen Garden Forum

Does anyone know roughly how far apart Dill and Bronze Fennel should be planted apart?

I'm aware that they shouldn't be planted 'too closely' due to 'reversion'....
But what would you say is 'too close'??!

Any suggestions welcome.
Thanks in advance,
Wellie

Hi Wellie,
Fennel in a perennial and Dill is an annual and really they roughly do the same thing so do you really need both?
I do not quite understand the 'reversion' bit!

Yes - I don't think reversion is the right word. I believe there is a risk of them crossing. Then, if you sowed the seed, you might get some horrible tasting hybrid next year (or at least something that wasn't true to the taste of either fennel or dill). And I tend to agree (as I often do) with Johnboy. Both are aniseedy-flavoured herbs that are good with fish and egg dishes. Do you need them both? Unless, of course, you're simply tryng to grow a nice, comprehensive herb collection. We find we get by very well with about10: rosemary, thyme, sage, parsley, chives, sorrel, mint, oregano, fennel and basil.

Hello Wellie - I don't know much about the reversion bit with dill and fennel either. I have only heard about it in regard to impatiens.

Ooh Ken and Johnboy, I can't agree with you at all about dill and fennel being so similar one or the other would suffice. I don't like the taste of aniseed at all and can't stand fennel. But I love dill! Especially chopped over new potatoes, as an alternative to mint. We grow a lot of it and I think its taste is difficult to describe, but it tastes nothing like aniseed to me (or OH who dislikes aniseed too). Mind you, I often see basil described as having an aniseed flavour. Again, nothing like it to me - love it and grow a great deal too.

I agree with Chez, I think they have quite distinctive different tastes, but whichever you decide to grow, be prepared to be pulling handfuls of seedlings out forever more if you let one go to seed!!

Hi Wellie,
Have just swiped this off an American University website. Hope this is more helpful than my last posting.
Dill (Anethum gravolens) seeds and leaves spice soups, pickles, cheese, breads, sauces, potatoes, meat and fish. Sow seeds in medium-rich soil, in a sunny, protected spot. Continue sowing seeds throughout spring and summer. Don't plant near fennel as they may cross-pollinate. Thin seedling so they are 12 inches apart. Stake plants when they're 18 inches tall. To harvest seeds, hang flower stalks upside down in a sunny place. When dry, shake seeds out and store. To harvest leaves, cut after the plant is 8 inches tall.

French Tarragon is popular with our fishmonger. Actually he is dead keen on anything in that line that we grow as it is really fresh. I must update the herb growing, it's a good money-spinner, so much money for so little weight, but they don't sell at the Farm Shop.I really need two of me.

Allan,
What has your posting got to do with Dill versus Fennel? Is this another case of having nothing to say about the subject in hand so you change it to something you want to talk about!
I positively refuse to make comment on your last sentence.

Oh God, now look what I've started .............

I do have some rather lovely Tarragon growing, and it's French, not Russian.

JB - thanks for that ! I've searched and searched, and I can't find the book reference I was referring to, nor the explanation as to 'why' so I'm grateful, and going to plant it well away from the bronze fennel.

AND, for the record, I agree wholeheartedly.
How can anyone say that Fennel and Dill are much of a muchness in terms of 'sameness'.
Flavour is everything to anyone that cooks, and Fennel would in no way substitute Dill.

Thanks everyone,
Nice one !
Wellie