Fennel 'Blues' – a mid-season variety with a height ranging from 30 to 60 cm and an average plant weight of about 50 g. The plant grows quickly: it takes 60–65 days from full germination to cutting for greens, and approximately 115 days to full seed maturity. The leaves form a vertical rosette containing up to twenty leaves; they are long-stalked, medium-cut, and serrated along the edges.
Cultivating 'Blues' requires attentive care: regular weeding, soil loosening, watering, and fertilizing. In the early growth stages, the plant is particularly sensitive to temperature and humidity and does not tolerate fresh manure. Seeds are sown under plastic film or in open ground at the end of April; for greens, cutting is done before flowers appear, and for seeds, when the stems turn brown.
Fennel seeds have a spicy and slightly sweet taste, contain essential oils, mineral salts, and vitamins. In cooking, they are used as a flavoring for meat and fish dishes, alcoholic beverages, bread and pastry, as well as for pickling and canning. Leaves are rich in carotene and vitamin C and are used in salads, soups, and meat recipes. In medicine, fennel is valued for its anti-inflammatory properties: it is used for bronchitis, laryngitis, tracheitis, broncho-pneumonia, and asthma; infusions and syrups are also prepared to treat the respiratory tract.
