DIY Network

Care and Harvesting Care and Harvesting From "Fresh from the Garden" episode DFFG-213

Figure A

Joe returns to the garden after the fennel and bok choi are up and growing (figure A). He gives tips on how to prevent fennel from bolting and demonstrates how to harvest both fennel and bok choi. He also provides extensive information on how to deal with pesky garden slugs and explains why having a beerfest in your garden may be a good idea.

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Florence fennel

When growing fennel, try to provide it with its optimal growing conditions -- evenly moist soil and cool days --so that it doesn't bolt, or go to seed. For crops such as lettuce and cabbage, premature bolting reduces the harvest, because instead of producing a leafy crop, the plant switches gears and sends up a flower stalk (figure B).

Like most plants, fennel tends to bolt when it doesn't get the growing conditions it likes. Because fennel does best in cool weather, even a few days of unexpectedly high temperatures may cause it to bolt (figure C). There's not much you can do about the weather, but there are a few tricks that will help keep your fennel healthy and productive.

Figure B

Figure C

• Mulching your fennel bed with pine straw (figure D) or any other organic mulch insulates the soil and keeps its temperature from fluctuating rapidly. Mulch also keeps moisture in the soil and prevents its drying out too quickly. All in all, a good layer of mulch gives the fennel the steady, even conditions it likes.

• Another good practice is to cultivate the fennel shallowly. Either hand-pull any weeds you see in your fennel bed or use a sharp hoe to skim the soil surface (figure E). If you cultivate too deeply and disturb the roots, the fennel will be more prone to bolting.

• Fennel also grows best when it's provided with steady but moderate amounts of fertilizer.

Figure D

Figure E

The best part of gardening is harvest time. With Florence fennel you can harvest parts of the plants at different levels of maturity.

When the fennel is about a foot tall and growing well (figure F), begin to harvest some of the feathery foliage, which has a sweet licorice or anise flavor to it and is used as an herb.

Even as you harvest some of the foliage, the fennel bulb continues to grow. When the bulb is about 2" wide, some gardeners pile extra soil or mulch around it (figure G). This keeps sunlight from reaching the bulb and causes it to blanch, or remain a pale white color. Other gardeners choose not to pile extra soil or mulch around the base of the fennel and instead let the bulb develop its natural green color.

Figure F

Figure G

Whether to blanch your fennel bulbs or not is a matter of personal preference. Some people think that blanched bulbs are slightly more tender than the green ones, but the main difference is simply the color of the mature bulb.

Once the swollen leaf base or bulb is about 3"-4" wide, it's ready to harvest. Use a sharp knife and slice off the plant right at the soil line. You can peel away the stalks, which make up the bulb, and eat them raw, just like celery; chop them to add to a green salad; grill or braise them for a great side dish; or use them in a classic European-style soup.

Bok Choi

Bok choi is a quick-growing crop that takes less than two months to go from seed to maturity. Because it's quick growing, it rarely has time to be bothered by diseases before harvest time rolls around.

Figure H

As far as pests go, the number-one problem for bok choi is slugs, the slimy pests that nearly every gardener knows. They hide during bright sunny days since sun dries out their soft bodies, but they come out on cloudy days and at night to feed on your favorite plants. The telltale signs of slug damage are rough-edged holes in your plant leaves (figure H) and a shiny slime trail that marks their movements. Slugs can do a remarkable amount of damage in a small time.

Slugs attack a huge number of vegetable crops. They are especially attracted to young, tender transplants of any kind; to strawberries, beans and squash; and to leafy crops such as lettuces, greens and cabbages.

	Figure I
	Figure J
	Figure K
	Figure L

Fortunately there are several easy ways to get rid of slugs:

• If you're an early riser, get out into your garden before the sun sends the slugs into hiding. Handpick any slugs you see and drop them into a can of soapy water (figure I).

• One popular slug-control method is the saucer-of-beer trick. Bury an old saucer or other shallow container in the soil so that the rim is level with the ground. Fill the saucer about halfway with cheap beer (figure J) and leave it out overnight. The slugs will crawl into the saucer and drown (figure K). Dispose of the slugs in the morning, then refill with beer the next afternoon. In a few days, you'll have made a huge dent in the slug population.

• You can also place a melon or grapefruit rind in the garden. Slugs will crawl onto the rind during the night, and in the morning you can pick up the rind, slugs and all (figure L), and toss it into your trashcan.

• Another option is commercial slug bait. The only slug baits you should use are the ones whose labels specify that they are safe to use around pets and wildlife. Baits that are not labeled as safe around pets usually contain the chemical metaldehyde, which can poison and possibly kill dogs and cats. There's no reason to buy or use metaldehyde baits when so many other good nontoxic alternatives are available.

With the slug problem under control, your bok choi should grow well and should be ready to harvest before you know it. As with Florence fennel, bok choi can be harvested at different levels of maturity and can be used many different ways.

Figure M

Early in the season you can harvest the outer leaves of some of the bok choi plants. The leaves have a mild, slightly cabbagey flavor and are great in stir-fries or cooked like other greens. You can continue to harvest some leaves, picking a few as you wish to use them in the kitchen. Once the whole heads are mature (figure M), about 45 or 50 days after you sow the seeds, harvest the entire plant by using a knife to cut it off at the soil line.

Bok choi will keep well for several weeks if it's refrigerated. The leaves and the juicy, tender stalks are a classic in coleslaws and in Asian dishes.