Growing Anise in Your Garden

Gardening can be more than just a hobby. Planting some choice vegetables and herbs can add up to your garden’s beauty as well as supplement your kitchen needs. Growing herbs are aesthetic and beneficial. They can be grown alongside other plants to support growth and protect against garden insects. Some herbs bloom beautiful flowers, such as anise. Anise, or pimpinella anisum is an annual plant that flourishes well in sunlight and dry, well-drained soil. It can be added to sweets, breads, cakes, creams, flavor liqueurs, cordials and marinade of fish. Anise is also associated with health. It is thought to aid digestion and cure coughs in ancient times.

When taken cared of properly, anise can grow up to 18 to 24 inches high and 12 inches wide. Anise transplant poorly. If planting from seed, plant only fresh seeds since old seeds tend to be harder to start. Store anise seeds for a maximum of two years. Fresh seeds can be planted directly to your herbal patch outside in early May. Avoid frost as much as possible. Plant them about quarter of an inch deep and cover thinly. Your anise should be planted about one foot or 30cm apart. Keep them free from weeds and water often. Anise will flourish more if planted near coriander. Coriander promotes seed formation among anise plants.

If you’re planting them in a pot, sow about 6-8 seeds pet pot. Let them grow in full sunshine, with air temperatures about 55°F. You can weed out the weaker seedlings and leave out about one or two plants per pot, rather than transplant. Anise does not stand well when transplanted. However if you need to transplant your anise from the pot to your garden, do so with care. Avoid disturbing the roots as much as possible.

Ripening the seeds takes a long time and requires a lot of heat. Letting them grow in doors may be a good idea if you want to ripen the seeds. Cut the heads off from the plant before they drop. Place them in a shallow container or line them in a paper towel. Let the seed dry out under direct sunlight. Separate the seed from the hull by rubbing them between your palms. Use a sieve to remove seeds from husks.

Anise needs protection from winds and requires plenty of sunshine to flourish. Add fertilizer to extremely poor soil and lime to soil with acidic pH. Water your anise during hot, dry weather. It is preferable to water them in late afternoon or evening.

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