‘Fennel: plant away from gardens; disliked by most plants.’ John Jeavons, How to grow more vegetables
The other day I posted a photo of the blossom on my apple tree. I was pleased that some was finally showing but I was also concerned about the amount of time it was taking. It’s almost May and I am sure there should be more buds than this:
apple tree on 1st May 2015
And I have a suspicious the culprit might be this:
fennel lurking
So, the fennel has now been dug out, will be dry and enjoyed as tea. But I think that is the last I will plant in my back garden. I am inclined to see what happens out the front, but that will be a story for another day.
Growing out of chaos 
nice update thank you for sharing my be you could grow the fennel in a tub next year in a corner were nothing else is growing have a blessed day and weekend
Yes, that’s an idea! Have a lovely bank holiday weekend, Linda 🙂
Such a great plant, but seriously disliked by many others. Worth keeping on its own. Although I’m growing it near some celery .. so far so good! 😀
Good news about the celery! I don’t have a lot of space, which rather restricts the choice of location 😦
Front garden for the fennel….
too much sun and it bolts!!
And your little apple tree shouldn’t be allowed to bear fruit for the first three years…
weakens the plant….
enjoy what blossom there is…
and then remove the dead flowers and possibly fertilizied fruit.
This tree is actually five years old so I really do hope it will bear fruit! I will take the blossom off the crab apple once the flowers die, though 🙂
I didn’t know that about fennel. Fascinating. I hope the removal does the trick.
Thank you! I’ve been away for the weekend so it will be interesting to see if there is already any difference when we get home this evening.