How to Harvest and Use Fennel Pollen and Seeds

My fennel plants look like I should of harvested them a few weeks ago. Hope it is not too late, they certainly have turned brown. I was so glad to find this article from examiner.com.

Although it is not recommended to harvest wild fennel for eating or using on your body because so much of the plant is effected by the fumes it grows up around - you can often find safe fennel in rural fields and it is easy to grow as long as you aren't living in an extremely hot environment or an extremely cold one. Bronze fennel seeds are easy to transplant from starts. One plant will produce enough fennel seed to last a family for a year, given it is a well-fertilized plant that grows to over eight feet. Also, if you are growing fennel in a moderate region you may be able to have the bulb winter over and thus become a perennial. You can also harvest the bulb to put into a salad or braise under some fennel pollen sausages, but more on those later. Read More...