Gadenin日本語Get the appSow where the plants will finish, never in trays
Anise sends down a thin taproot within a couple of weeks of germinating and it does not recover from having that root broken. A transplanted seedling sits still for two or three weeks, then either dies back or throws a short flower stem and sets a handful of poor seed. Since the whole point of the crop is ripening seed inside a limited warm season, losing three weeks at the start is losing the crop. Sow it in the ground or the container where it is going to stand and the problem never arises.
This rules out the usual head start under cover. If your season is genuinely short and you want to try anyway, sow into deep individual cells or paper pots that go into the ground whole, and plant them out before the seedlings are three inches (8 cm) tall. Do not transplant and do not wash soil off the roots. Even done well, this gains perhaps ten days, not a month.
- Prepare the bed before you open the packet Anise wants light, free draining, moderately fertile ground with a fine surface. Break the top inch (2 to 3 cm) to a crumb and remove stones. A cloddy seedbed strands the small seed on the surface where it dries out.
- Pick the warmest, brightest spot you have Full sun and shelter from wind, ideally against a south facing wall or fence in a cool region. The extra warmth is worth several days of ripening at the end of the season, and shelter keeps the weak stems standing.
- Do not use a cell tray, plug tray or seed flat Transplanting seedlings a tray of anise seedlings gives you a bed of stunted plants that bolt short and set almost nothing. This is the single most common way gardeners lose an anise crop before it has started.
Anise sits in the same family as carrots, dill, coriander and parsley, all of which resent root disturbance. If you already direct sow carrots, treat anise exactly the same way and you will be right.
Wait for warm soil, then count the frost free weeks
Anise germinates in warmth, not in cool spring ground. It moves reliably once soil reaches about 60F (15C) and is fastest between 68F and 77F (20C to 25C). Sown into cold wet soil the seed sits, swells and rots, and gardeners blame the packet. Wait until well after the last frost, when the ground has genuinely warmed rather than merely thawed, and germination takes ten to fourteen days rather than a month.
The harder question is whether your season is long enough at all. Anise needs roughly four frost free months from sowing to ripe seed, which in a cool summer region leaves almost no margin. Count the weeks between your last spring frost and your first autumn frost before you sow. Fewer than about sixteen weeks and you should plan to grow anise for its leaf and green seed rather than expecting a dry harvest.
| Detail | Target | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Soil temperature at sowing | 60F (15C) minimum, 68F (20C) better | Below 60F (15C) the seed rots instead of germinating |
| Sowing depth | One quarter inch (6 mm) | Deeper than this and the small seedling exhausts itself |
| Days to emerge | 10 to 14 in warm soil, up to 21 in cool | Slow enough that people resow over the top too early |
| Frost free season needed | About 120 days to ripe seed | Decides whether you get seed or only leaf |
| Final spacing in the row | 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm) | Close enough that the stems lean on each other |
| Row spacing | 12 to 18 inches (30 to 45 cm) | Airflow through a stand that will flop inward |
| Container depth | 10 inches (25 cm) minimum | A checked taproot gives a short plant and little seed |
Water the drill before you sow rather than after. Watering a shallow sowing from overhead floats the seed into drifts, and gaps in an anise row matter more than in most crops because the plants rely on their neighbors for support.
Sow thickly on purpose
Anise makes a slender, hollow, weak stemmed plant eighteen to twenty four inches (45 to 60 cm) tall carrying a heavy head of umbels. Grown as isolated specimens at generous spacing, the plants lean, then splay outward, and by the time the seed is filling the whole stand is flat on the soil where the heads pick up mud and rot. Grown as a close block they hold each other upright and stay clean.
So sow more thickly than instinct suggests, and thin less than you would a salad crop. A band four to six inches (10 to 15 cm) wide with plants finishing four to six inches (10 to 15 cm) apart in every direction works far better than a single thin line. Think of it as growing a small self supporting thicket rather than a row of individuals.
- Sow in a broad band rather than a single drill Scatter the seed along a shallow band the width of your hand and rake fine soil over it. A block of plants supports itself from all sides, where a single line only supports itself along one axis and still folds sideways.
- Thin once, and only to remove the weakest Take the stand down to four to six inches (10 to 15 cm) apart when the seedlings have two or three true leaves. Snip the unwanted ones off at soil level with scissors rather than pulling, so the taproots of the keepers stay undisturbed.
- Put short brushwood in early if the site is exposed Twiggy prunings pushed in among the plants when they are six inches (15 cm) tall disappear into the foliage and hold the stand through wind and heavy rain. Staking after the plants have flopped never works properly.
One sowing, not a succession
Most herbs reward repeated small sowings. Anise does not, at least not if you want seed. Every week you delay is a week taken off the ripening end of the season, and a sowing made in midsummer will be caught by frost with green heads. Make one main sowing as soon as the soil is genuinely warm and put your effort into growing that stand well.
There is a case for a second small sowing three weeks later, but only as insurance against the first failing, or if you specifically want a late supply of leaf and green seed for the kitchen and accept it will not dry. Decide which you are doing before you sow, because it changes how you treat the plants all season.
| Sowing time | What you get | Worth doing? |
|---|---|---|
| Soil below 60F (15C), before the last frost | Rotted seed and gaps | No. Wait |
| Two to three weeks after the last frost | Full season, ripe dry seed | Yes. This is the main sowing |
| Three weeks after the main sowing | Leaf and green seed, rarely dry seed | As insurance, or for kitchen use |
| Midsummer | Leaf only, caught by autumn frost | Only in a long, hot season |
| Autumn | Nothing. The plant is frost tender | No |
In a region with a short or cool summer, growing anise in a large deep container that can stand against a warm wall or move under cover in a cold spell is often the difference between ripe seed and green heads.
What to write down at sowing
Anise is a crop where the calendar decides the outcome, so the sowing notes are worth more than usual. The gap between sowing and ripe seed is close to fixed, which means one season of honest dates tells you whether your garden can finish the crop at all and how much earlier you need to start next time.
- Record the sowing date and the soil temperature If the row is slow or patchy, the soil temperature at sowing is almost always the reason. Having the number written down stops you blaming the seed and repeating the mistake.
- Record the emergence date Ten to fourteen days in warm soil is normal. Nothing after three weeks usually means the ground was too cold or the seed was old, and it is better to resow immediately than to wait and lose the season.
- Record where the bed was and how sheltered it is Next season you will be comparing a sheltered warm bed against an open one. The difference in ripening date is often a full two weeks, and it only shows up if you noted the position.